-PTI   Registering the 14th case in the Commonwealth Games scam, the CBI today booked eight CPWD officials and two companies for allegedly inflating rates of various items in the renovation of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex. CBI officials also carried out searches at 16 places in New Delhi, Ghaziabad and Jaipur which yielded "incriminating documents and records", an official spokesperson said here. The agency has named Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Limited and a...

-The Business Standard   Asking questions does not amount to passing judgements Just as correlation does not establish causation, asking questions does not amount to passing judgements. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is an important constitutional office that has a role to play in improving governance. However, going beyond one’s brief can always harm an institution in the long run and be counterproductive. An auditor’s Dharma is to see if...

Six districts have reduced infant mortality rate to 28, which is the UN target to be achieved by 2015 A few districts in the eight empowered action group (EAG) States have excelled by achieving the targets set by the United Nations under the millennium development goals (MDGs). The EAG States are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan. Of the 248 districts of the EAG States and Assam...

The development of Bt brinjal was a case of bio-piracy, according to the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA). According to sources, the NBA has finally concluded its year-long investigation and recommended action against the U.S. agri-business giant Monsanto and its Indian collaborators who developed and promoted the controversial, genetically modified vegetable. A decision to “take the case to its logical conclusion” was taken at an NBA meeting on June 20, according to...

-The Hoot   Scores of journalists and non-journalists, governed by the respective statutory Wage Boards, are up in arms against the alleged ‘malicious campaign’ unleashed through the Indian Newspapers Society (INS) by a few Media Houses opposing the recommendations of the latest Justice G.R.Majithia Wage Board constituted by the Centre.   They are awaiting with bated breath the verdict of the Supreme Court bench that had, on July 18, 2011, informally directed the...