Given the scale of corruption in India, the constitution of a Jan Lokpal will be a welcome initiative. But the proposed Lokpal has the makings of a super-monster. After 42 years of hesitation and uncertainty, an institutional mechanism to deal with the all-pervasive incidence of corruption in India is in sight. What apparently moved the state machinery was the agitation spearheaded by Anna Hazare, which drew spontaneous support primarily in the...

“How is government aggrieved if illegal commission has been closed?” The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the Rajasthan High Court judgment transferring cases of alleged corruption during the Vasundhara Raje government, being probed by a State government-appointed Commission, to the Lokayukta. A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and H.L. Dattu dismissed a special leave petition filed by the State government challenging the High Court's order, which set aside the constitution...

Even as the Supreme Court has warned of a CBI inquiry into diversion of MGNREGS funds, the Centre has told the States that it will have the complaints investigated by the agency and funds will be withheld if its directives for corrective measures are ignored. The Rural Development Ministry, in its circular to the State governments, underlined its resolve to order a probe into complaints received from independent sources. It will...

Two weeks after Neyamat Ansari, a close associate of national employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) governing council member Jean Dreze, was beaten to death in Jharkhand, the Centre added on Thursday a new section to the act to force state governments to take action against irregularities in the programme. “If the Centre directs the state government for taking steps for effective implementation of the provisions of the act and the states do...

To keep control over its flagship scheme ~ the much-hyped Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) ~ and to defeat its non-Congress regimes in various states, the Centre has given itself powers to check releasing funds due to ineffective implementation.   In a six-point instruction to states, the ministry of rural development has said that audit teams and media reports have revealed “anomalies” in the implementation of the MGNREGA. “If the...