The 1985 Lokpal Bill destroyed the raison d'etre of the institution of an ombudsman, but all successive governments copied it. PUBLIC anger was understandably aroused over the gross delay by Parliament in the last 40 years to enact a Lokpal Bill and with the toothless one that the government sponsored. It is not widely known that the delay was aggravated by deception and fraud in 1985. It was, however, emulated by...

A new anti-Maoist campaign started in Chhattisgarh last week with the appearance of posters and newspaper advertisements targeted against Maoists and their sympathizers. Neither the posters nor the advertisements have any mention of printer, publisher or sponsor. The posters first surfaced in Narayanpur district last Thursday. They featured photos of activists Aruna Roy, Swami Agnivesh and Arundhati Roy carrying a statement condemning the killing of MNREGA activist Niyamat Ansari by Maoists....

Alarmed at the declining figures of female population in Maharashtra, as revealed by the provisional census of 2011, the state health department has launched a crackdown on clinics, which illegally perform sex determination tests. According to department officials, they will deploy 'Decoy Sting Operation Teams' at the district level. This team, which consists of khabris (informants), will track down clinics performing sex determination tests. Local health NGOs will also be...

No one has died of starvation in conflict-hit villages in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, but tribals are 'living with starvation, in great penury and destitution', the Surpeme Court's Special Commissioner Harsh Mander has submitted in his report. In a strong indictment of the state government as well as Left Wing Extremists, the commissioner has reported that everyone – the security forces, naxals and 'vigilante armed civilian groups' — have unleashed unending cycles...

“Shanti Bhushan has never met Amar Singh” Member of the joint drafting panel on the Lokpal Bill Prashant Bhushan on Wednesday said every fee that his father and co-chair of the panel Shanti Bhushan got for providing professional services as a lawyer was accounted for and tax paid on it. He was reacting to the charge of the former Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, that the SP had paid a fee...