The “paid news syndrome” in the media should be resisted as part of a larger struggle for democratic rights because corruption in the media directly affects the health of democracy. The struggle has to be waged in the context of media's corporatisation, monopolistic trends and structural decline. These views emerged at a day-long seminar on “Abridging Freedom and Fairness of the Media: Combating Challenges,” organised by the Rajasthan Working Journalists' Union,...

The Organising Committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games has got yet another blow vis-à-vis the corruption charges and various probes that it is facing owing to the alleged corruption in the Games and related affairs. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has issued summons to the OC asking it to submit all documents related to alleged discrepancies in the ticketing, Queen's Baton Relay and the conduct of the Games. The transparency watchdog...

There have been reports that as many as 150 persons including children reportedly died in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in the last year. However, Minister of State for Agriculture KV Thomas in his reply to Parliament earlier this week claimed there were no starvation deaths in the country during the last year. “No state government, Union Territory administration has reported any incidence of starvation death during last three years,” he said...

BJP is screaming hoarse about corruption in the UPA and demanding telecom minister A Raja's scalp for alleged misdeeds related to 2G spectrum allotment. But in Karnataka, where the party is in power, more skeletons are tumbling out of the scam-scarred B S Yeddyurappa government's cupboard. The latest to come to light had the chief minister allot land to his sons' company. In the first of the three cases, about which...

After Ashok Chavan, it's now the turn of the former Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, to face trouble for “favours” to the Adarsh Society during his tenure from January 18, 2003 to October 31, 2004, according to a complaint filed on Saturday with the Maharashtra State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Mr. Shinde has already denied his role in the scam repeatedly. Advocate Y.P. Singh and activist Simpreet Singh told journalists that Mr. Ashok...