The discordant black-flag picket at the Golden Temple on New Year morning belied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s clean-slate aspiration for 2012 but he is engaging in earnest with the challenges of what, in his own reckoning, will be another tough year. The Lokpal tangle controversially unresolved, attention is likely to remain riveted on politics, especially with high-stakes battles for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and three other states under way. The Prime Minister,...

This is the season to count blessings. India's greatest blessings are its adherence to the democratic system of governance, an independent judiciary, a free and fearless media, and an Election Commission that inspires confidence. I hope that soon India will have an independent and effective Lokpal, which will pave the way for a corruption-free India, a pre-requisite for a hunger-free India. The other major paradigm shift observed in recent years is...

In Bihar, the coupon system to distribute PDS grain fails to prevent corruption. AT the Jamaluddin gram panchayat in Patna district on January 26, 2007, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched an ambitious reform of the public distribution system (PDS) in Bihar: a coupon system. He claimed that it would “empower the poor and stop black-marketeering” and that it was “not a simple coupon but a powerful weapon in the hands...

The state government has been blamed for actively aiding and abetting the Adarsh housing society scam, in a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which was tabled in the legislative assembly on Friday. Accusing the state machinery of overlooking subversion of rules and regulations by the society and granting unreasonable concessions, the CAG has termed the scam as a "failure in governance at all levels". Many officers,...

There was wide criticism of the perceived attack on federalism Members of Parliament across the political spectrum are apprehensive of what the establishment of a supreme Lokpal — answerable to none — may hold for the future of the parliamentary system of governance as India has known and for the entire political establishment. Even as the process for the historic legislation for establishing a Lokpal began on Thursday with the introduction of...