-PTI   Nearly 121 central government employees, including one from CBI, are under Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) scanner for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices. Railway ministry topped the list with 23 officials under CVC scanner, 17 are from DoT, 12 from Bureau of Indian Standards, seven from Central Board of Excise and Customs, six each from DDA and MCD among others, a CVC report said. The anti-corruption watchdog recommended major penalty against...

The Lokpal is designed to be a comprehensive anti-corruption institution independent of the government, empowered to effectively investigate corruption of all public servants. But most of the critical elements in this vision have been rejected. The latest draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on hydrocarbon production sharing contracts and the transfer of oilfields to Reliance is only the latest of the mega scams to surface in...

No one’s buying the government’s desperate arguments to keep the prime minister above Lokpal scrutiny Points Of Friction   Government and civil society representatives have sparred on the question of including the prime minister in the proposed Lokpal Bill on seven key grounds: Point: The Prime Minister is accountable only to Parliament, and to the people of India Counterpoint: Does this mean a PM can never face action for criminal liability, however serious the charge,...

THE Jan Lokpal Bill fills the vacuum in the fight against corruption, at least in a theoretical sense. The existing systems of identifying and prosecuting cases of corruption against public officials are woefully inadequate. At present, public servants can be prosecuted for corruption under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. However, the investigating agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has to get...

Itself the outcome of a bottom-up movement, the Jan Lokpal bill ironically proposes a centralised framework against graft. Without checks and balances. There was never any doubt that India needs a strong Lokpal Act. The protest has paved the way for its enactment. With the exultation over the anti-corruption campaign’s ‘victory’ quieting down, it’s time to take stock. Nuanced arguments—and indeed substance—have to recover lost ground to take the discourse...