The Chhattisgarh model offers some key lessons on how to make the public distribution system deliverProbably the only thing extraordinary about Manglu is that he is the perfect example of an ordinary tribal. The 60-year-old belongs to the Pahadi Korba tribe and lives in Govindpur village of Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh. He best represents what modern India calls a below poverty line (BPL) beneficiary of various government schemes. Manglu earns...

The appointment of P.J. Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner comes under Supreme Court scrutiny.ON November 8, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar asked the Attorney-General, G.E. Vahanvati, whether Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas was an “outstanding civil servant” as required by the Central Vigilance Commission Act.The Bench was yet to get a firm reply to the question on December...

Nearly four years after the celebrated doctor and activist Binayak Sen was arrested on charges of aiding the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and conspiring to overthrow the Indian state, the prosecution began its final arguments.The State of Chhattisgarh sought to prove that Piyush Guha, Binayak Sen and Narayan Sanyal had actively conspired to assist the urban operations of the CPI (Maoist), a guerrilla party committed to the overthrow...

Advocates of liberalisation argue that by reducing state intervention and increasing transparency economic reform reduces corruption. Recent allegations of corruption suggest that this may not be true. In a season for scandal, allegations of large scale corruption have captured political India's attention. The instances to which such allegations relate are many, varying from the sale of 2G spectrum and the mobilisation and/or disposal of land and mining resources to purchases made...

Observing that killing a six months pregnant wife is the most heinous and barbaric crime warranting the death penalty, the Supreme Court has issued notice to the husband, who was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment why it should not be enhanced. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra also issued notice to Haryana on the appellant's 80-year-old mother, who was sentenced to two-year imprisonment. The Bench, however, granted...