-The Times of India   Cracks have appeared in Team Anna just a couple of months after they pushed the political class to agree to create a strong Lokpal and galvanized popular opinion against corruption, as members pursue their individual agendas. On Friday, Anna Hazare and other members of the group distanced themselves from their comrade Prashant Bhushan's advocacy to allow a plebiscite in Kashmir Valley on whether it should remain with India,...

-The Times of India   Just when sections in the Congress and the government have questioned the procedures of the CAG, the rural development ministry under Jairam Ramesh has invited the government auditor to inspect the accounts of UPA's flagship programme MGNREGA. Sources in the rural development ministry said the CAG earlier could not audit MGNREGA accounts because of some "ambiguities" which had now been done away with after Jairam's intervention. They...

-NDTV Profit   Some of India’s biggest and most-respected entrepreneurs have released an open letter to the government. The group which includes Wipro’s Azim Premji, Anu Aga of Thermax and HDFC's Deepak Parekh, refers to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill that is meant to be introduced soon in Parliament. The industrialists write, “The Lokpal Bill is only one small but critical step in the national task of weeding out the plague of corruption...

India is finally ready with a comprehensive Bill that will protect children from sexual abuse. But the Bill, says author-activist Pinki Virani, has a major flaw regarding sexual consent that needs to be immediately addressed and the stakeholders consulted before it becomes law. With a certain Standing Committee so much in the news, let us look at what is happening with another Standing Committee looking into a Bill to protect children...

There are fears that curative health care will be left to the private sector, while the public system will handle preventive and low-quality care. AN issue of The Lancet earlier this year highlighted some of the problems with public health in India, acknowledging that “it is in crisis”. The robust economic growth over the past 20 years has not translated into better health indices; indeed the decline of infant and child...