Has the battle between good and bad been lost again? Can we remain silent at the insidious adventures of some elements trying to scare away public-spirited people? The national capital is an excessively pampered city. Mindboggling amounts of money have been poured into it for improving infrastructure. This exercise has undeniably yielded dividends. Supreme among the additions to the average citizen's comfort is the metro built by Sridharan who, incidentally, is...

A government-owned forensic laboratory has reported that a CD allegedly containing a conversation between former law minister Shanti Bhushan and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has not been tampered with, providing a further twist to a saga that has had Delhi's political class enthralled. An official, who has seen the report, told ET that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has concluded the recording was authentic, clear and continuous. "The...

The probe into the killings of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and freelance journalist Hem Chandra Pandey in an alleged shootout in July last year will be handed over to the CBI , Andhra Pradesh told the Supreme Court Monday. The apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.M. Lodha was told that the necessary notification about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe would be issued by...

For over a year, travelling to various parts of the country, activist and prime mover of the Jan Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal, has been repeating the same story over and over again, on the anti-corruption structures we have currently. Last month, at a huge gathering of RTI activists in Shillong, Meghalaya, he explained. “When an official acts as a whistle-blower and complains against his boss, a senior officer, the Central...

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...