Bills aimed at making judges, public utilities more accountable, and protecting whistleblowers The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared three crucial anti-graft Bills aimed at making judges and public utilities more accountable and protecting whistleblowers. The Bills come at a time when the government is being attacked by both the opposition and anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare​ and his team. Analysts are doubtful about the intentions of the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The...

-The Telegraph   New laws are often brought in without assessing their judicial and financial impact. The result is poor implementation, says Seetha Call it collateral damage. According to newspaper reports, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has written to the Prime Minister asking for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to be put on hold during the peak season of agricultural operations. With a guaranteed income of Rs 100 a day for at...

-The Economic Times   The movement against corruption that the erroneously labelled 'Gandhian' Anna Hazare has spearheaded has had some positives. For one, it brought into sharp focus wide public anger against the malaise of endemic corruption. Two, it reaffirmed the role of civil society members in intervening and shaping public discourse. And, three, it generally shook up a system inert to, if not actively resistant to, any genuine measures to tackle...

The Opposition on Tuesday prevented Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal from moving the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010, in the Rajya Sabha, claiming it had a “conflict of interest”. As the Opposition members continued to press their “point of order”, quoting rules to prevent the Minister from tabling the Bill, the House was adjourned twice during the day. Even before the Minister could move the Bill, Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand...

-IBN   The much hyped Unique Identification (UID) project led by Nandan Nilekani has run into trouble after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance rejecting the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 in its present form. The committee headed by Yashwant Sinha pointed out several anomalies in the existing bill and urged the government to "reconsider and review the UID scheme as also the proposals contained in the Bill in all its...