India has fallen three places to 87th in Transparency International's latest corruption Perceptions Index, in which 178 countries were surveyed. India's integrity score has fallen to 3.3 out of 10 in 2010 while it was 3.5 in 2007 and 3.4 in 2008 and 2009. Transparency International India chairman P.S. Bawa on Tuesday said the recent damaging revelations in the Commonwealth Games contracts seems to have increased the perception about corruption and...

After the visually-challenged RTI activist Ratna Ala, another RTI crusader from Valsad, Ketan Shah has lodged a complaint stating that he has been threatened for his activism by the chief officer of Valsad nagarpalika and senior officers in the district administration. For Shah, major shock came after the nagarpalika passed a resolution — a copy is with TOI — in the general body meeting on October 19 to blacklist him and...

It is imperative that the committee constituted to look into charges of corruption in the Commonwealth Games should also include violations of labour laws within its purview. One of the more blatant and visible scams of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games relates to how the thousands of workers who worked on the games construction sites were denied minimum wages, safety equipment, housing and other benefits constitutionally due to them. In an interview...

Women have rarely held posts of political authority in Kerala. There are, though, processes at play that could alter some things, a sense that big changes are under way. They will account for over 50 per cent of all 21, 682 wards in the 1,209 local bodies going to the polls. A single issue dogs all candidates in the local polls in Guruvayoor municipality of Kerala's Thrissur district. Any of the...

The high-level committee set up by the Centre to look into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games would have a much broader mandate, going beyond allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds. Even while focussing on “alleged misappropriation, irregularities, wasteful expenditure and wrongdoings in the conduct of the Games,” the terms of reference of the panel approved on Monday include examination of “weaknesses” in management and issues relating to coordination among...