-PTI   Madhya Pradesh Cooperative and Public Health Minister Gaurishankar Bisen today said efforts would be undertaken to bring transparency and accountability in the public distribution system (PDS) in the state.The bio-metric cards or coupons would be used in the entire state with the online computer system to be implemented in the PDS, Bisen told reporters at BJP office here.Informing that bio-metric cards are currently being used as a pilot project in...

Mahesh Kundu paid 2,500 rupees for a driving licence, Rupam Bhatia 5,000 rupees to be admitted to hospital and Vishrant Chandra 6,000 rupees for a marriage certificate. These are the commonplace bribery stories experienced by middle-class Indians who have poured into the streets to say "enough is enough". Corruption in India is as old as the Ramayana, when the evil demon Ravana bribed a guardian of hell to avoid punishment in...

Garhwali villagers resist new central farming plans, stick by age-old ways attuned to nature Jardhargaon is a sprawling cluster of villages tucked away in the Himalayan folds in Tehri district of Garhwal. A panoramic view of pine- and sal-covered mountains, green and freshly showered, surrounds us, as little streams spout out of boulders at every turn of the winding hill roads and clouds hang like a dark cover overhead. But...

• Without a clear definition of ‘public purpose’, the land acquisition bill is meaningless • The bill’s definition of ‘fertile land’ can potentially harm the agriculture sector • Government’s role in defining land will create economic and political problems in future As Parliament debates this month it will, hopefully, move beyond issues of corruption in high places to important economic legislation. Two such pieces of legislation are the land acquisition bill and...

Even as the area around Parliament was swamped by crowds of Anna Hazare's supporters, demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill on Wednesday, a small group of environmental activists staged their own demonstration against a different bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011. Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was scheduled to introduce the controversial BRAI Bill in the Lok Sabha, but the House did not conduct regular business due...