The CBI unit of Pune has taken over the investigations in the sensational murder case of RTI activist Satish Shetty. The case was earlier being handled by CBI, Mumbai office, following an order from the Bombay high court. CBI director Amar Pratap Singh issued an order on August 4 to transfer the case to the Pune office. CBI deputy inspector general of police Pravin Salunke said, "The Pune office is in a...

Eleven years after birth, Jharkhand is still staggering under the oppressive weight of multi-crore land scams — one of the most ignoble pulled off in the capital and the latest unearthed in temple district Deoghar — and it squarely blames Big Brother Bihar for this physical handicap. As many as 82,000 land maps belonging to the state are gathering dust at the Gulzarbag Printing Press in Patna, leaving ample scope for...

-The Times of India   Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said states should invoke the penalty clause against government officials for not doing their work under the job scheme. Ramesh said rules should be framed to activate section 25 of MGNREGA, which seeks to impose penalty of up to Rs 1,000 on lax officials. He said the clause has remained dormant in most states. Reforms to make the job scheme effective have...

-The Economic Times   The CBI, which had on Saturday registered a case under section 302 of the IPC in the murder of Bhopal-based RTI activist Shehla Masood, is expected to question, among others, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay and party MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh, as part of its investigation. The investigating agency's Bhopal unit, which had taken over the case after the Centre forwarded to it a request to that...

After his successful campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare is now targeting electoral reform to curb corruption. While politicians were his main target, few realised that it was the bureaucrats who had enabled the politicians to abuse the system. The war on corruption needs drastic administrative reforms to curb the enormous power of the petty babus. The good intentions of prime ministers, the commitment of good officers and...