The 1985 Lokpal Bill destroyed the raison d'etre of the institution of an ombudsman, but all successive governments copied it. PUBLIC anger was understandably aroused over the gross delay by Parliament in the last 40 years to enact a Lokpal Bill and with the toothless one that the government sponsored. It is not widely known that the delay was aggravated by deception and fraud in 1985. It was, however, emulated by...

As the joint drafting committee begins work on the Lokpal Bill, its civil society members face challenges from various quarters. AS the leader of the five-member civil society group within the 10-member joint drafting committee to prepare the new Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare finds himself in an unenviable position. After his successful agitation for equal participation for civil society in the legislative exercise to create the first Lokpal at the Centre,...

The CSR has declined in 27 States and Union Territories, recording an all-time low, while the adult sex ratio has improved, though slowly. WHEN the provisional data from Census 2011 were released on March 31, the worst fears of those working in the area of women and child development were confirmed. The horror of a declining child sex ratio (CSR), which first came to light in Census 2001, returned once again,...

It will be a major improvement over current system, says Jairam Ramesh The Union government is in the process of setting up a National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA) as part of efforts to bring in institutional reforms and improve environmental governance, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here on Tuesday. The Minister was delivering the second Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture at the convocation...

Alarmed at the declining figures of female population in Maharashtra, as revealed by the provisional census of 2011, the state health department has launched a crackdown on clinics, which illegally perform sex determination tests. According to department officials, they will deploy 'Decoy Sting Operation Teams' at the district level. This team, which consists of khabris (informants), will track down clinics performing sex determination tests. Local health NGOs will also be...