Hidden behind all the administrative scandals that rocked India in 2010, illegal mining is an unnoticed beast that has been eating into the country's soul.   While corruption in spectrum allocation and the conduct of the Commonwealth games are primarily about monetary loot, illegal mining is about invaluable non-renewable natural resources.   In at least five major states, there were more than 20,000 complaints of illegal mining filed, but the perpetrators carried on with...

Safai karmacharis are set to end their two-decade-long movement for a life of dignity on a victorious note. DECEMBER 31, 2010. As revellers across the world prepare to celebrate the end of the first decade of the new millennium and the start of a new year, a million women across India will be celebrating not the end of a calendar year but the end of a centuries-old degrading and inhuman...

After Congress chief Sonia Gandhi mooted a five-point plan at the recent AICC plenary session to put in place a system to confront corruption, the Centre is considering an ordinance to tighten the anti-corruption regime against politicians. The Congress core group on Friday discussed the possibility of the new law which would tighten the rules to punish corrupt politicians and counter the popular belief that the system was created to benefit...

The government will shortly set up an anti-corruption mechanism in the backdrop of scandals in which the Opposition has targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. As legislative measures will be required to introduce certain provisions, it can even pilot an ordinance. Sources said the Prime Minister was giving “serious thought” to this mechanism with a blueprint having already been prepared, incorporating the suggestions given by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the party...

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has described 2010 as a landmark year in Independent India's history in terms of the number of scams. In an editorial in the People's Democracy, party organ, it drew attention to the several disquieting trends that have emerged as a result. The year stood out as one which saw a serious attack on Parliament and the institutions of parliamentary democracy. Apart from the virtual annulling...