That accountability is vital in a democracy was reinforced at a National Convention of the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information held in Shillong recently… If governments do not investigate corruption, people should have the right and power to do so themselves. When the idea of a people's legal right to information took initial shape in the dusty villages of Rajasthan nearly two decades ago amidst people's struggles for...

It's Sharad Pawar's old habit of indulging in corruption. Yes, I am levelling charges. Take me to court, I will prove the allegations," said activist Anna Hazare in New Delhi, as he began his fast unto death strike against corruption on Monday. Hazare's is campaigning for a compressive Lok Pal Bill to give wider powers to the ombudsman to check corruption attracted a huge crowd of over 3,000 people at Jantar...

The UPA government's flagship programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has found itself in the eye of storm again. This time in a panchayat of the coastal district of Kendrapada thanks to an RTI activist. RTI activist Niladri Bhusan Tripathy of Kendrapada recently sent a petition to the executive officer of Golarhat panchayat in Derabishi block of the district seeking information on the project expenditure under the MGNERGA...

Why are the erstwhile RTI campaigners so alarmed five years after it became law? Why so many dharnas, rallies, conventions and hunger-strikes all over again? Part of the reason is that the silent revolution that the RTI has spawned needs to be defended from surreptitious alterations and manipulations, and partly because the RTI activists are being threatened, harassed and assaulted by the corrupt and the powerful, often with the connivance...

Judicial review of executive action is not unique, but the remedy in the CVC case is a departure from the court's record of approach to corruption. THE Supreme Court's decision to declare the appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) P.J. Thomas as non-existent in law has stimulated much debate. The political fallout of the ruling has been widely studied, with pundits pondering over how seriously it may impact the Prime Minister's...