Long promised by the UPA government, the food security bill will be tabled in parliament in December this year. However, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which drafted the proposal, is tussling with the government over the “dilution and misdirection” of the Bill. The final Bill diverges from the original NAC draft on key issues: adoption of alternatives to the PDS such as cash transfers, the risk of inflation due to...

-The Times of India   The CBI raided the secretary to Speaker Meira Kumar for corruption, sending Parliament into a tizzy and prompting the Lok Sabha chair to remove him with immediate effect. R A Pathak was raided by CBI for acquiring assets disproportionate to his income between 1995 and 2005, a period when he served in the road, transport, highways ministry. Belonging to the 1984 batch of central engineering service, Pathak joined...

The Lokpal legislation, in whatever form, will not be the only law we have on corruption. Apart from statutes on prohibition of benami transactions and prevention of money laundering, there is the IPC (Indian Penal Code). Under Sections 169 and 409 of IPC, depending on the offence, public servants can face imprisonment (from two years to life) and fines. This wasn't enough of a deterrent and after Bofors, we had...

Acute dissatisfaction verging on disgust with the behaviour and performance of some Members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assemblies has generated a debate about enacting a legislation for recall of elected members. Under the present law, an MP or an MLA has a fixed term of office for five years. Articles 102 and 191 of the Constitution specify the contingencies in which a person shall be disqualified for being...

'We want to pressure the government and assert our rights as citizens.' Arvind Kejriwal received the Magsaysay award in the Emergent leadership category in 2006. A mere five years later, he has far surpassed that milestone, winning acclaim and notice for the way he conceived and crafted Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. He talks to Vidya Subrahmaniam about the Jan Lokpal campaign, what it accomplished and why it often became controversial. The scale...