Under attack from political parties over funding of Anna Hazare's campaign for the Lokpal Bill, India Against Corruption, the umbrella organisation that steered the crusade, has released details of expenditure and said all civil society members of the joint drafting committee will declare their Assets and liabilities on Friday. Two days before the first meeting of the joint drafting committee, India Against Corruption issued a detailed press statement on the expense...

The scheme has reduced rural migration and promoted financial inclusion, but needs to create more durable Assets. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) – the only government social welfare scheme named after the other Gandhi, not belonging to Nehru-Gandhi family – has recently completed five years. The performance of the scheme, considered a major pillar of UPA government's strategy of inclusive growth, has been a matter of debate. The...

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee does not own a house, his wife does. He does not even have a car, unlike many of his party colleagues. Bhattacharjee lives in a rented two-room government flat at Palm Avenue in Ballygunge with his wife and daughter and his bank account shows a meagre Rs 5,000. No other investments. A Spartan life indeed. That is what Bhattacharjee submitted to the Election Commission while filing his...

The draft bill seeks to create an institution that will be independent of those it seeks to police, and will have powers to investigate and prosecute all public servants, and others found guilty of corrupting them. A number of commentators have raised issues about the provisions in the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. They have asked whether it would be an effective instrument to check corruption. They have pointed to...

In a veiled attack on non-government organisations (NGOs) that supported Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday suggested the Lokpal Bill should also cover “corporates and NGOs”. He also supported the idea of social activists, who are in the joint committee, declaring their Assets. The Congress general secretary took a dig at Hazare for his controversial remarks that people vote for Rs 100 or a sari or a...