The new CBI director has promised to speed up investigations into corruption cases being handled by the agency in Jharkhand, including the ones faced by former chief minister Madhu Koda and pending fodder scam cases against RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Soon after assuming charge, the Jharkhand cadre 1974-batch IPS officer Amar Pratap Singh said he would ensure that these corruption cases got more attention. “We will see that investigations and trials...

The ambitious Polavaram project, the multi-purpose project proposed across the Godavari for making optimum utilisation of water going waste into the sea, is mired in problems. The much-talked about project, aimed at stabilising the century-old Krishna delta and irrigating over 7 lakh acres in the upland areas of East and West Godavari districts, is dogged by uncertainty since it became a bone of contention between different regions and faced with litigation....

    * Moved to London from Kenya in the 1970s. Schooled at Haberdashers’ Aske’s. Bachelor’s at University of Warwick.     * Has three siblings. Father in aviation. Three sons from failed marriage with UK businessman Janak Radia.     * India entry in 1995. Sahara liaison officer. India rep of Singapore Airlines, KLM, UK Air.     * Floats Crown Air as MD in 2000, with sister Karuna Menon as partner. Secures FIPB clearance to...

NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...

Advocates of liberalisation argue that by reducing state intervention and increasing transparency economic reform reduces corruption. Recent allegations of corruption suggest that this may not be true. In a season for scandal, allegations of large scale corruption have captured political India's attention. The instances to which such allegations relate are many, varying from the sale of 2G spectrum and the mobilisation and/or disposal of land and mining resources to purchases made...