-Outlook The state elections rolled out smoothly, but it's money power which ruled on the ground As we celebrate the smooth working of a massive electoral exercise-simplistically dubbed by many as the semi-final to the greatest show on earth, General Elections 2014-a realisation has dawned that the role of ‘money power' is reaching alarming proportions. Sure, elections are more fool-proof today than in the past, and most (rightly) salute the EC...
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Cobrapost sting: FIR lodged against IT companies
-PTI LUCKNOW: Police on Saturday lodged an FIR against some IT companies on a complaint based on the sting operation by news portal "Cobrapost", which claimed misuse of social media platforms in online campaigning for elections. The FIR was lodged by IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, who alleged that many IT companies were making "criminal" and "improper" use of social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc to sway the minds of common people...
More »Verma panel did a rethink on Vishakha guidelines -Manoj Mitta
-The Times of India The outrage over the Delhi gang rape spurred the enactment of two laws relating to gender reforms. The one widening the definition of rape and enhancing penalties for a range of sexual crimes was largely based on the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee, which had been appointed post Nirbhaya. But when it came to the other law, which deals with sexual harassment at the...
More »A question of accountability -S Narayan
-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...
More »A flawed and unwarranted move
-The Hindu The Election Commission might be well-intentioned in seeking to ban opinion polls in the run-up to an election, but the move does not seem to be sound in law, and is certainly not desirable in practice. The reasoning for a ban is that opinion polls influence voters prior to polling, and therefore the results of such polls should be withheld until after the end of voting. Needless to say,...
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