-The Indian Express SC wants a four-month deadline for govt to give sanction; what about the years of trial in a court? The Supreme Court is right in underlining the need for speedy sanction to prosecute public officials in corruption cases. The court was responding to a petition by Subramanian Swamy, who alleged “inordinate delay” by the prime minister’s office in responding to his petition on the 2G spectrum scam, and withholding...

-The Economic Times The charges of embezzlement of funds for the rural employment scheme may be contributing to the political battle between the Congress and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, but it appears that, in real terms, political wrangling does not have any significant effect on its implementation. According to a study by the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, the UP government's lack of ownership of the programme, along with low...

Poor workers are being paid wages as low as Rs 1-10 for a hard day's labour in states like Rajasthan and Karnataka under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which promises a real wage of Rs 100 per day.  Documents with TOI show that many desperate, poor labourers across the country are being cheated of their hard earned money and the much publicized guaranteed daily wage of Rs 100...

-CNN-IBN   Contrary to the dominant narrative that areas where Naxalites are strong are where the state has been absent, for the last 100-150 years, there has been a gradual expansion of the state in tribal areas regardless of whether the people want it or not. However, the state has been expanding in the wrong areas. You have an extension of the forest department, the Bureaucracy, the patwari and the forest guard....

-The Economic Times   Bureaucracy bashing is India's favourite national vocation. And for good reason. Our Bureaucracy has its good share of crooks, criminals and cheats who need to be put away - with or without a Lokpal. The simple counter-question is, does the Bureaucracy have a disproportionately larger share of crooks than in other professions in India, and the data clearly does not say a resounding yes.  In fact, there is perhaps...