After she failed in her grade ten examinations, Aarti Naik would've ended up being a domestic help like most of her classmates but chose to fight the situation she was in. Today she teaches schoolgirls from her neighbourhood for free lest they fail in their examinations and in life. Sometime in June 2003, when she received her State Secondary Certificate (SSC) examination mark sheet, Aarti Naik was crestfallen. She had failed...

Documents availed through Right to Information (RTI) Act are giving sleepless nights to former pradhans contesting the panchayat elections again. Armed with these papers — mostly related to utilisation of panchayat funds — the villagers are questioning candidates who come seeking votes. The authenticity of the information being guaranteed, the candidates have no chance to argue. In village Hamirpura in Jalaun, a candidate contesting for the the gram pradhan’s seat for the...

  KEY TRENDS   • According to the CMS-India Corruption Study 2018, among states, 73 percent households in Telangana, 38 percent in Tamil Nadu, 36 percent in Karnataka, 35 percent in Bihar, 29 percent in Delhi, 23 percent in Madhya Pradesh; 22 percent in Punjab and 20 percent households in Rajasthan experienced demand for bribe or had to use contacts/middlemen, to access the public services @@    • According to the CMS-ICS 2017 study, the states where...