-The Business Standard Comptroller & Auditor General Vinod Rai, who has put the government on the mat several times in the past three years, says an auditor is meant to be adversarial. On the sidelines of the inauguration of the International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development in Jaipur on Saturday, Rai, whose term as the CAG ends on May 22, spoke to journalists about his stint, retirement plans and...

-Frontline   But in Modi's Gujarat the difference between development and darkness is all too visible to those who care to see. NARENDRA MODI may have won three consecutive elections and ruled Gujarat for more than a decade after he was posted there almost as a night watchman, to borrow a cricketing expression. He may have mobilised a massive fan following that is shouting to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post,...

-Live Mint Almost two decades after the Panchayati Raj Act was notified, a key aim of the legislation remains unfulfilled Papapatti/Madurai district: S. Muruganadam, 38, is the Dalit president of the Papapatti village panchayat in Madurai district and a post-graduate in political science. His term ends in 2016 and he has made up his mind not to run for re-election. "I think a panchayat president's post is an important post because only...

-The Indian Express As the tenure of the incumbent draws to a close, let's debate the institution's structure and powers It is time for the selection of a new comptroller and auditor general as the tenure of the incumbent draws to a close on May 22. Traditionally, the CAG has been an unseen agency, churning out audit report after audit report on every department supported by government funds every year. The last...

-Live Mint Dominant caste groups in the state have found their own ways to capture and preserve power Dravidian political parties, which came into existence with the objective of achieving social equality, have been in power for more than four decades in Tamil Nadu, yet caste-based discrimination against the Dalits has remained a fact of life in the southern state. That's in contrast with neighbouring Kerala, which has emerged as a...