-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Parliament on Wednesday passed the crucial Lokpal Bill with the Lok Sabha adopting the measure as amended by the Rajya Sabha after a short discussion. Following are the salient features of the amended Lokpal Bill. 1. Lokayuktas: The new bill mandates states to set up Lokayuktas within 365 days. States have the freedom to determine the nature and type of Lokayukta. The old bill said the law...

-The Hindu     The political executive and the permanent executive should realise they are public servants first and work in harmony to achieve the constitutional objectives There is a need to arrest the ‘laal batti' [red beacon] culture in public governance. The Supreme Court of India has been delivering a variety of judgments on matters of public governance, and these have been the subject of debate and discussion. Some of these related to...

-The Hindu The issue of easing the costs of intellectual property resources on clean technologies takes centre stage For the developed countries it was a devil buried at the climate negotiations last year at Doha. At the Warsaw talks, the developing countries, including India, resuscitated the devil - easing the costs of intellectual property rights (IPR) on clean technologies - back to life, by demanding that a funding mechanism be set up...

-The Hindu     While it is apparent that due process has been subverted to the advantage of a few by the political executive, it is equally true that there has been some politicisation of the civil service Two recent events have focussed attention on the relationship between the political executive and public servants. At the international conference on corruption organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation on November 11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

-The Business Standard A Supreme Court interim order says it should not, but the issues involved may not be quite so clear cut Even as the Supreme Court sits to hear arguments on the applicability of the unique identification number, popularly known as Aadhaar, the debate around the unique identification number has already shifted from its success or reach to whether it should be mandatory. In an interim order, the apex court...