The Orissa government has given its Consent for a CBI inquiry into the alleged multi-crore rural job scam under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). "We have given Consent for a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities under MGNREGA," chief secretary B K Patnaik said. He said the ministry of rural development had asked the state government to give its Consent on a specific format before a notification was issued...

Given the scale of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster. After 42 years of hesitation and uncertainty, an institutional mechanism to deal with the all-pervasive incidence of corruption in India is in sight. What apparently moved the state machinery was the agitation spearheaded by Anna Hazare, which drew spontaneous support primarily in the...

Five audit firms of Price Waterhouse India have admitted to the US markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that deficiencies in their auditing process were not restricted to Satyam Computer , but extended to other companies audited by them in India as well. This disclosure by PW India is in two documents released by the SEC on April 5 while concluding its findings on the Satyam accounting fraud case....

The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it had given its Consent for a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the utilisation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds in Orissa. “The Consent to have an investigation into the alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds for the scheme has been given by the minister concerned (Ministry of Rural Development),” Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench headed...

Modi appeals to Manmohan to raise height of Narmada dam ‘Rehabilitation of over 2 lakh tribals, farmers still pending' The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Monday urged the Union government not to accede to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's demand to raise the height of the Narmada dam to its final level even when social and environmental compliances with regard to displaced families were lagging. The dam's height at present is 122 metres. In...