Indian law affords Binayak Sen one automatic right to appeal, and another at the discretion of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, given the visible disparity between the quality of allegations against him and the repercussions, the judgment is sure to provoke a national and international outcry. One thousand three hundred and twenty days after he was first arrested, Binayak Sen has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition against the Indian...

Between the technical rigour and finality of CAG audit and people's airing of grievances, a new audit system that subscribes to, and strengthens, open government may be waiting to be born. The new system is envisaged as one where the CAG’s formal audit includes the relatively new concept of community-led social audit . The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) presents an opportunity to do this. Traditionally, auditing is a...

The government will shortly set up an anti-corruption mechanism in the backdrop of scandals in which the Opposition has targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. As legislative measures will be required to introduce certain provisions, it can even pilot an ordinance. Sources said the Prime Minister was giving “serious thought” to this mechanism with a blueprint having already been prepared, incorporating the suggestions given by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the party...

About eight children go missing every day in the city, according to an RTI reply by Delhi Police. Across the city, over 2161 children had gone missing within a span of 270 days this year. Of them, 603 are yet to be traced. The chilling story was disclosed by the Alliance for Peoples' Rights, an NGO, after analyzing the consolidated figures of children who went missing between January and September this...

Public outrage at the sentencing of physician and rights activist Binayak Sen continued on Tuesday, with philosopher Noam Chomsky, historian Romila Thapar and 80 others, including leading academics, writers and journalists, signing a joint statement condemning the “unbelievable savagery” of the sentence. Urging his immediate release as well as the early hearing of his appeal “with enlightened reason” by the higher judiciary, the statement said: “The damage done by this shocking...