Sonia Gandhi’s ambitious plan to institutionalise political monitoring of the government’s flagship programmes in states has taken off in a tentative and haphazard manner. Although she has appointed a separate Congress general secretary, Vilas Muttemwar, to oversee the monitoring system and asked all state party units to set up committees to study the implementation of the schemes, little has been achieved in the past 10 months. Many state units are yet...

Four days after The Indian Express reported how, in at least 12 instances, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi raised inflated air fare invoices to overcharge her host NGOs and institutions, Bedi announced today that the “balance amounts” were being returned “forthwith”. “Foundation trustees have passed resolution directing me (to) travel strictly as per invite. This leaves no room for discretion...Trustees have instructed travel agent to return the balance amounts forthwith,” she...

-The Indian Express   On at least 12 occasions, Kiran Bedi appears to have inflated her travel expenses while charging the institutions and NGOs inviting her for seminars, even as she used her own travel discount as a gallantry award winner — keeping the rest of the money for her own purposes. Bedi defends herself, saying that she was travelling less comfortably than she was entitled to, and using the money left...

-IANS   The task of ensuring transparency and evolving a mechanism to check corrupt practices had acquired urgency like never before, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday while stressing that the Lokpal bill was at the top of his government's agenda. The Prime Minister, addressing the biennial conference of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and state anti-corruption bureaus, added that the government welcomed inputs from civil society and NGOs on how...

-PTI   Already plagued by internal dissensions, Team Anna plunged into yet another controversy on Thursday with allegations against Kiran Bedi that she charged her hosts full fare on air tickets while availing discounts but the activist claimed there was "no personal" gain. Allegations were levelled against Bedi, a key member of Team Anna, that she used her gallantry medal to get 75 per cent discount on Air India tickets and then submitted...