Representatives from 127 governments have agreed to add endosulfan to the United Nations' list of persistent organic pollutants to be eliminated worldwide. The action puts the widely-used pesticide on track for elimination from the global market by 2012. The decision was among more than 30 measures taken by Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to strengthen global action against POPs at their meeting in Geneva last week. The...

The 1985 Lokpal Bill destroyed the raison d'etre of the institution of an ombudsman, but all successive governments copied it. PUBLIC anger was understandably aroused over the gross delay by Parliament in the last 40 years to enact a Lokpal Bill and with the toothless one that the government sponsored. It is not widely known that the delay was aggravated by deception and fraud in 1985. It was, however, emulated by...

A Supreme Court-appointed committee finds large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka with the connivance of officials. THE issue of illegal mining in Karnataka and the large-scale corruption in political and public life resulting from it refuses to stay away from the headlines. The sordid tale of mining-linked corruption (Cover Story; Frontline, July 16, 2010) has had a few recurring characters – a beleaguered but defiant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister B.S....

While discussing the question of including the higher judiciary under the proposed anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, government representatives on the joint draft committee on Saturday pointed out that two former Chief Justices, M.N. Venkatachaliah and J.S. Verma, had opined in a public consultation that the higher judiciary should be kept out of the ambit of the bill. Members of the civil society cited instances where applications to look into charges of corruption...

The Bihar government has shifted its focus to agriculture with the intent to make the state a “pioneer” in the second green revolution, stung by the lukewarm response of investors coupled with the Centre’s “non-cooperation” in ushering in an era of industrial growth. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has constituted an agriculture cabinet comprising 17 government departments. The department is aided by agriculture scientist and former director-general of the Indian Council of...