Whether it is in education, health or jobs, there are enormous differences in outcomes in modern India, so much so that it often seems like two countries exist within one. Economic opportunities have undoubtedly expanded for a section of India's population, but there are serious obstacles in the path of many. Nobel laureate and development economist Amartya Sen has written about the 'conversion handicap' which, quite separately from an 'earnings...

If access to information is the first step towards empowerment, then it is important to make Internet accessibility a human right because a lot of useful information, particularly relating to government schemes, is either unpublished or inaccessible by other means for most citizens The government’s approach towards universal Internet access is marred by dichotomy. While the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, calls Internet one of the most effective means of...

The government's crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his followers has had one unintended effect: It has united civil society groups till now bitterly divided over the direction and scope of the anti-corruption movement. From Anna Hazare to Aruna Roy, civil society activists on Sunday buried their differences and spoke in one voice against the midnight police swoop, calling it draconian and undemocratic. Mr. Hazare threatened to follow up a day-long fast...

The Jan Lokpal is being vested with sweeping powers, which are susceptible to misuse. The centralised structure of the Lokpal will be ill-suited for sorting out governance deficit. People will be confined to being complainants and applicants. There is need to make the Jan Lokpal people-centric FOR many who quite rightly guessed that the Lokpal Bill drafted by the government would be a non-starter, the alternative merited automatic support. However, little...

It's been a tale of misses for the state government on all counts as far as curbing corruption in MGNREGA is concerned. For, despite having conducted at least 35 special audit at various work sites in the state, there seems to be little action initiated by it as far as recovery of money, action against the culprits and in some cases even executing its plans are concerned. According to Shankar Singh of...