The massive Dalit conglomeration at Shivaji Park for the 55th death anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar mirrored the pragmatic approach to life with the GenerationNext stressing on economic empowerment. “I am no longer a prisoner of communal and secular politics. What is weighing on my mind is economic empowerment. Even our peers are less nagging and allow us political independence,” said 18-year-old Kishore Gaikwad. Gaikwad and 20 others from Nashik made the...

-Express News Service   The parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal bill has recommended “appropriate representation” for the weaker sections in the search committee.   The standing committee on law and justice has, however, maintained that the choice of the ombudsman “has to achieve the selection of the best and the brightest at the entry point”. The committee, which adopted its final report this evening, has suggested that the search panel must include “certain sections of...

A parliamentary committee is set to reject the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, inflicting a severe blow to Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani and raising doubts about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's pet project. Former IT czar Nilekani, who holds cabinet minister rank as UIDAI chief, had been keen on the enactment of the Bill so that a statutory National Identification Authority could be established. The Bill,...

-PTI The Bihar Lokayukta Bill, 2011, has proposed constitution of a three-member Lokayukta with jurisdiction to probe corruption charges against public servants from the chief minister down to employees of the lowest rung of the administration. Public servants including the chief minister, ministers, members of the state legislature, officials, employees, companies, NGOs and chairpersons of the various boards and corporations in the state would be within the purview of the Lokayukta,...

The FDI in retail debate has apparently fully traversed the realm of reason and for it seems to have degenerated into name-calling. I had intimation of this when a diplomat who meets me from time to time asked me if I was being put up, for a price, by Indian corporate interests to stymie the entry of the big western firms like Wal-Mart and Carrefour? I can well imagine the...