-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Political parties will be out of the purview of the RTI Act with a proposed amendment that is likely to be taken up by the Union Cabinet on Thursday. The move comes even as several prominent civil activists have petitioned PM Manmohan Singh urging him not to go ahead with the amendments without consultation. According to sources, the government plans to amend the definition of public...
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From the granary to the plate -Jean Drèze
-The Hindu Despite its many flaws, the food security bill is an opportunity to end the leakages from the PDS and prevent wastage of public resources The National Food Security Bill, now an ordinance, has been a target of sustained attacks in the business media in recent weeks. There is nothing wrong, of course, in being critical of the bill, or even opposed to it. Indeed, the bill has many flaws. What...
More »Government's latest election sop: Mobile phones to females workers-Anandita Singh Mankotia
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India is preparing to give mobile phones to each female member of a household, who has worked for 100 days in 2012 under a rural employment guarantee scheme run by the government, as per an internal presentation of the telecom department. If implemented, this would be the latest sop the government is planning to woo a population ahead of a slew of state polls leading up to...
More »Bigger the criminal charge, fatter the politician's wallet: Study -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Money and muscle power not only help to win elections but also help in making politics a rather profitable affair. An analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for the last decade shows that 62,847 candidates had average assets of Rs 1.37 crore. But candidates who won elections had average assets of Rs 3.83 crore. What's more interesting is that the wealth of legislators who...
More »Study tracks how crime can translate into poll success
-The Indian Express An analysis of affidavits submitted by candidates in parliamentary and assembly elections since 2004 shows that a higher proportion of those with a criminal record were elected than from among those without such a record. The study found that only 12 per cent of those with a clean record won, which it described as their chances of winning, as against 23 per cent of those who a serious...
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