Many in India feel betrayed that neoliberal economic policies have not ended but increased fraud and corruption Corruption is not exactly new in India. Quite apart from the extensive historical evidence of its spread, during and after the "mixed economy" period of state planning, the "licence-permit raj" was regularly accused by commentators of breeding graft, constraining economic activity and forcing citizens to be at the mercy of corrupt officialdom at all...
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Government cold to CAG's quest for new powers by Siddharth Varadarajan
The United Progressive Alliance government may have shown a willingness to draft a new Lokpal Bill, but it is dragging its feet on a proposal to strengthen the public institution that has done so much to expose wrongdoings in public life: the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG). For the past two years, the CAG has been pushing the Finance Ministry — its nodal ministry — for crucial changes in the 1971 Audit...
More »Food Act won't add to subsidy cost
-The Times of India The proposed Food Security Act may not put additional burden on the government in the current fiscal year as the government can find the resources to fund the plan from the spending outlined for 2011-12 , finance ministry officials said. However, the food subsidy bill could soar to as much as Rs 75,000 crore from the estimated Rs 60,572.98 crore for the 2011-12 fiscal. Finance ministry...
More »Anna Hazare and Gandhi by Prabhat Patnaik
To call Anna Hazare the 21st-century Gandhi, as some have started doing, is pure hyperbole, but many would see a similarity in their methods — in particular, in their resorting to fasts to achieve their objectives. This, however, is erroneous. Indeed, the fact that so many people consider Anna Hazare’s method to be similar to Gandhiji’s only indicates how little contemporary India remembers or understands Gandhiji. Gandhiji undertook 17 fasts in...
More »‘At the first meeting, Shanti Bhushan said something about how we are here, writing the Constitution afresh’ by Ravish Tiwari
Team Hazare has been very critical of the responses of the government representatives in the drafting committee. They even said the Lokpal had become a Jokepal. During the discussions, we did not want to do anything that would upset the applecart. We did not go to the media, except for Kapil Sibal who held a daily briefing. The Hazare team did not want a joint briefing. We agreed. We did a...
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