If actions speak louder than words, then the government has just spoken loud and clear. There could be no stronger indication of the government’s lack of serious intent in building an effective anti-corruption regime than the decision to remove the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) law. Without any discussion in the public domain, the government has decided to use Section 24 of...

The CBI search at V K Sibal's residence on Friday is likely to bring into the open a number of controversies that have surrounded the office of the directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas in the two tenures of the UPA Government. The searches were a tipping point in allegations against Sibal, a former director general of hydrocarbons whose tenure started in 2004 under...

-The Times of India   The government is set to accept the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council's recommendation to cover 75% rural and 50% urban population under a food security law, but wants to keep the percentages outside the language of the Act itself. UPA-2 is inclined to set the percentage of population covered in a notification or schedule accompanying the Act so that it can be revised by executive order...

Jean Dreze, until recently the intellectual driving force behind the National Advisory Council , is measured but unmistakable in his disenchantment with many current UPA welfare schemes. The economist who quit the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC in late June, won't comment on whether the UPA Government has failed the NAC. But, he tells Ullekh NP, there's not enough empathy in the Indian establishment for the poor. Programmes like NREGA, he says, attract...

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...