-The Telegraph   The comptroller and auditor general today began a performance audit of the rural job scheme in 12 states, including Bengal, amid allegations of widespread corruption hobbling India’s largest social sector programme. The idea is to see whether the scheme has indeed secured villagers’ livelihood by providing guaranteed employment, and whether rules have been followed in its implementation. For instance, at least 60 per cent of the expenditure on every project under...

-The Economic Times   Home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has said that the Cabinet last year decided to review the implementation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir. This brings his views in line with those of J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, who has recently demanded the scrapping of the Act from parts of the state. We welcome these views and strongly suggest the repeal of the Act.  Since...

To control inflation and ensure long-term economic growth, India needs to harness the creativity of the large number of its farmers and entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas. The latest WPI inflation data show primary articles inflation in double digit, driven mainly by food inflation which remains stubbornly high at over 9 per cent. The high food prices are the result of structural factors with shortages getting aggravated as demand continues to outstrip...

Some of the recent cases in the higher courts bring into sharp focus the dilemmas on the death penalty. ON October 10, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad stayed the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving assailant in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack, by admitting his appeal against the death sentence awarded to him by the Bombay High Court. The Bench wondered whether Kasab deserved...

When farmers in Gujarat want to fight big companies or the government, they know who to turn to. A frail 95-year-old who survives on four chapatis a day and refuses to hang up his protester’s boots. Just seven months ago, Chunni Vaidya walked 370km to stop a Nirma cement plant in Mahuva village because he agreed that it would poison water bodies. Nowadays, if the Gandhian is not travelling to coastal Mithivirdi...