The Naveen Patnaik government is facing court strictures and opposition criticism for irregularities in grant of mining leases. WHEN Naveen Patnaik stepped into his father Biju Patnaik's shoes and donned the mantle of leadership of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to become the Chief Minister of Orissa for the first time in March 2000, he was seen as a crusader against corruption. In his initial years in power, he did...
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Corruption in the neoliberal era by CP Chandrasekhar
Advocates of liberalisation argue that by reducing state intervention and increasing transparency economic reform reduces corruption. Recent allegations of corruption suggest that this may not be true. In a season for scandal, allegations of large scale corruption have captured political India's attention. The instances to which such allegations relate are many, varying from the sale of 2G spectrum and the mobilisation and/or disposal of land and mining resources to purchases made...
More »The Girl Who Was Once Nira Sharma by Sunit Arora
* Moved to London from Kenya in the 1970s. Schooled at Haberdashers’ Aske’s. Bachelor’s at University of Warwick. * Has three siblings. Father in aviation. Three sons from failed marriage with UK businessman Janak Radia. * India entry in 1995. Sahara liaison officer. India rep of Singapore Airlines, KLM, UK Air. * Floats Crown Air as MD in 2000, with sister Karuna Menon as partner. Secures FIPB clearance to...
More »Sonia's visit did little to ease farmer widow's woes by Sanjeev Chandan
Sonia Gandhi visited a farmer widow's house in August 2004, soon after the UPA came to power. However, this visit did not bring as much change in her life as Rahul Gandhi's visit on July 18, 2008, to Kalawati's house. In fact, the damaged canal that led to the suicide by Ranjana Deshmukh's husband has still not been repaired. The struggles of Kalawati of Yavatmal and Ranjana Deshmukh of Wardha, both...
More »Commonwealth Games: a citizen's memoir by Krishna Kumar
The opening and closing ceremonies received wide acclaim but left many citizens like me a bit terrified and confused. Now that the terms of inquiry into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games have been extended, let us hope that the process of probe will be more open than was decision-making for the CWG. Let us also hope that the review will cover the opening and closing ceremonies as well, both in...
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