Activists against graft have often pointed out that even the threat of jail hardly serves as a deterrent for a corrupt person, as he can enjoy his ill-gotten gains after he completes his sentence. Now, that could be set to change. Assets amassed through corrupt means by a public servant will be frozen during investigation and liquidated on his being proved guilty, if the proposed Lokpal bill comes through. The drafting...

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.” This quote by US President Ronald Reagan summarises the significance attributed to facts, figures and data and the need to make them freely available across servers and bandwidths. In this age of internet and mobile networks, the amount of information available to us is far more than...

It is the improper mode of application, violating the law and regulations, that is responsible for the apparent adverse toxic effects of endosulfan. FROM a scientific perspective, an extremely pertinent question in the endosulfan story is why adverse health effects similar to those seen in the villages of Kasaragod district in Kerala have not been reported from other parts of the country where the pesticide is used in much larger...

The Jan Lokpal is being vested with sweeping powers, which are susceptible to misuse. The centralised structure of the Lokpal will be ill-suited for sorting out governance deficit. People will be confined to being complainants and applicants. There is need to make the Jan Lokpal people-centric FOR many who quite rightly guessed that the Lokpal Bill drafted by the government would be a non-starter, the alternative merited automatic support. However, little...

It's early morning in rural Rajasthan and the sun is already burning. Only the brave have ventured out into the harsh, radiating heat. At the dusty Kanpura village, farmers are hard at work, grading their harvest. But the dry, still air is slowing them down. For Jeevan Ram Kharol, selling his produce is the only source of income. Last year, the drought brought him no returns. Now he's hoping the harvest will...