Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill, is disappointed at the way the government has treated the suggestions made by the civil society for the new Lokpal Bill. In an interview with Thufail PT, he talks about the future of the campaign, the charges of the right-wing bias in the campaign and why it is okay to take funds from corporates for such campaigns....
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Hawk On His Perch by Lola Nayar
Vinod Rai’s searing honesty in his job as the country’s CAG has the government in many a bind CAG Catch 1 2G Spectrum, 2010 The CAG audit over a six-year period from 2003 finds loopholes in the implementation of norms, leading to DoT allocating spectrum at 2001 prices. Estimated loss to exchequer: the now-household figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Outcome Former telecom minister A. Raja, MP Kanimozhi, telecom and...
More »Civil society opposes Sarpanch auditing own work under NREGA by Devika Banerji
Civil society groups have opposed a government proposal to rid its flagship rural jobs guarantee programme of malpractices, saying the plan is "hazy and lacks clear direction". The opposition to the proposal, which seeks social and financial audits of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), comes at a time when the government is facing the heat of a campaign led by social activist Anna Hazare over...
More »From fig leaf to banana republic by Siddharth Varadarajan
Nobody sheds a tear when the police harass ordinary citizens. But with the rich and powerful under the corruption scanner, the Prime Minister now fears a police state. The Prime Minister and his advisors just don't get it. At a time when the public is looking for an end to the loot of public money, the last thing they want to hear from their government is a bunch of excuses and...
More »Why two Lokpal drafts, asks Nitish
-The Times of India Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Thursday questioned the Centre's decision of sending two drafts of Lokpal bill to the states for consideration and demanded that the government clarify its stand before seeking states' views on the proposed anti-corruption legislation. Speaking after a meet with civil society group on the Lokpal issue, Kumar said he would discuss the matter with his party and ally BJP. "Let the government...
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