The Centre is mulling summary dismissal of public servants chargesheeted for corruption. The move will ensure that government will not have to wait for long-drawn court battle to sack officials found guilty of corruption. But it is to be seen if such a provision will extend to politicians who are classified as "public servants" in the anti-graft law. A GoM on tackling corruption will take a call on the issue while hammering...

Twenty-four hours ahead of the hearing in the Bombay High Court, the environment ministry has upheld its order asking Lavasa Corporation Limited to stop all work in its hill township project near Pune. Work at the 25,000-acre planned city was put on hold by a showcause order issued on November 25. The ministry had said that final order on the showcause will be issued by December 31, provided Lavasa “co-operated and...

Mahitosh Sarkar came here from his distant village in West Bengal 12 years ago looking for a better life, and he found it. He abandoned the penniless existence of a subsistence fisherman to become a big-city vegetable seller. His wife found work as a maid. Their four children went to school. Their tiny household, a grim but weather-tight room in a dilapidated tenement, had a color TV and a satellite...

A cold reality check for the exultant voices from Bihar is hard statistics that show that criminals and money power continue to dominate electoral politics. A total of 141 out of 241 or 59% newly-elected MLAs have criminal backgrounds according to data analysed by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). This is a marked increase from 117 or 35% MLAs with Pending Criminal Cases against them in...

There are 139 candidates who have criminal charges pending against them in the 35 assembly constituencies going to poll in the fifth phase on November 9 in Bihar. This fact was found out after examining 441 affidavits of the candidates, Kumar Anjesh, state coordinator of an NGO 'National Watch,' told reporters in Patna. Of 139 such aspirants, 75 were facing serious criminal charges like murder and attempt to murder, he said. Stating that...