Public can lodge complaints against judges with a national oversight committee The bill will mandate judges to declare assets and liabilities Oversight committee to be headed by a retired Chief Justice of India The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill providing for a mechanism to deal with complaints against judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill sets judicial standards and makes judges accountable for their...

We have just celebrated yet another birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma had a vision for free India, which was to give the nation a people-friendly governance—'Ramrajya'. Unfortunately, 63 years after Independence, this dream of Mahatma Gandhi, remains just a dream and will probably continue so in future too. 'Ramrajya'  cannot be a reality because our country's leaders have too many vices and too few...

For me, stepping into the simple precincts of Bapu Kutir in Sevagram and seeing Gandhiji’s personal belongings was indeed a lesson in humility.  The charkha holds pride of place in the small mud dwelling even as Gandhians take turns to spin the wheel. One gentleman told us that a national shift to khadi would provide employment to thousands of people. The greatest thing about visiting Sevagram is to find that the...

Per capita income, once regarded as the best index of the welfare of a society, has long since been dethroned from this status. People have argued persuasively that it is a measure that ignores not only income distribution but also the quality of life. Alternative approaches have been designed to explore these nuances of measurement and alternative indices constructed. Amartya Sen has developed a ‘capabilities approach’ to the question of...

Members of the National Advisory Council (NAC) Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze have accused the UPA government of being “increasingly anti-labour” in their assessement of the national rural employment guarantee programme, on its fifth anniversary. With support from several activists associated with the government’s flagship social sector scheme, they have alleged that the “contractor mafia”is increasingly dominating in the states, minimising the potential to create remunerative employment through the programme. According to...