-The Indian Express In the aftermath of the Central Information Commission's order holding political parties as public authorities for the disclosure of details of political funding, the turf war between members of civil society and the parties has intensified. It is commonly believed that a major source of corruption in the functioning of government can be traced back to the method of funding of parties and elections. The efforts made by...
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What we need is not a food security Bill but a hunger elimination Act -Arvind Virmani
-The Times of India In the decade or so that i was at the Planning Commission, i always had advisory responsibility for the food ministry/public distribution system, among other issues of development policy. It did not take very long to find out that the fundamental problem with the system was about so-called "leakages" abetted by corruption: One soon learnt that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was one of the most...
More »Open up the accounts
-The Business Standard But RTI is not the tool to impose transparency on parties There is no doubt that much is wrong with how elections in India are financed. In India, as in most democratic countries, the need for political funding is often what causes cronyism and outright corruption - in fact, more than one politician, cutting across party lines, is on record making this argument. It is necessary, certainly, to introduce...
More »It’s official: Indian economy slowed to a 10-year low of 5% in 2012-13
-The Times of India The Indian economy grew at its slowest pace in a decade in 2012-13, posing another fresh challenge for the UPA coalition to revive growth and boost sentiment ahead of the general elections next year. Data released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) on Friday showed that the economy grew 5% in 2012-13, compared to 6.2% expansion in the previous year. It was in line with the advanced...
More »A deception most foul-Narayan Lakshman
-The Hindu Ranbaxy's fraudulent practices may have jeopardised millions of lives in India, Africa and the U.S. Exactly two weeks ago, the pharmaceuticals industry was rocked by revelations that one of the world's largest generic drug manufacturers, Ranbaxy Laboratories, pleaded guilty to seven federal criminal charges stemming from its fraudulent production practices dating back to 2008, and agreed to pay U.S. regulators $500 million in fines. Much has since been said about Ranbaxy's...
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