In what eyewitnesses termed an extremely shocking incident, a Forest department team of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh allegedly beat up a pregnant woman during a raid, resulting in a miscarriage leading to the death of her unborn twins on the spot. According to eyewitnesses, a Forest department team raided the house of Rakesh Adhikaari of Kunjaval village on Wednesday and tried to take him away for allegedly hunting...

The activism of civil society against corruption has caught the imagination of many Indians. Arguments put forward by representatives of the civil society organisations (CSOs) can be summarised as follows: 'All - at least most - politicians, ministers, bureaucrats are corrupt. Voters are incapable of deciding what is good for them. The police, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, and all other agencies of the State...

The RTI Act was envisaged as a potent weapon to fight corruption by ushering in an age of transparency. Yet powerful men in power have ganged up to throttle the law through deliberate delays and by arm-twisting applicants. A comprehensive look at the law. Aweapon in the hands of people. That was how the Right to Information (RTI) Act was envisaged, almost six years back. But the bureaucracy, in connivance with...

The Sirohi police have decided not to register FIRs over irregularities committed in Mahatma Gandhi National Rrural Employment Guarantee Schemes (MGNREGS) unless the complaint is backed by an audit report. Superintendent of police for Sirohi, Vipul Chaturvedi passed a written order to this effect for all police station in-charges in the district during a law and order meeting held on March 13, 2011. "Cases shall not be registered against people who...

“No element of truth in the entire malicious campaign” Civil society member on the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal, on Thursday ruled out the resignation of co-chairman Shanti Bhushan from the panel in the wake of the Noida farm plot allotment issue. He said they would remain focussed on drafting an effective Lokpal Bill. “There is no element of truth in the entire malicious campaign,” Mr. Kejriwal...