What is our national aim? To my mind, our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country for its citizens, and for that it is necessary to have a high degree of industrialization.  Even setting up and running a single primary school requires a lot of money, e.g. for buying land, erecting the school building and providing for the recurrent expenditure for Salaries of teachers, staff, etc. We...

Has the time come for an effective Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill? Will the government enact a legislation that will truly empower ordinary people? Civil society needs to debate the provisions of the draft bill that is released for public discussion and feedback The Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill, 2011 seeks to “lay down an obligation upon every public authority to publish citizens charter stating therein the time within...

-IANS   Sitting and former MPs from various parties owe a staggering Rs.9 crore to state-run telecom provider MTNL, over and above the free calls they are allowed, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query revealed Tuesday. The reply lists 399 MPs who alone owe Rs.7.10 crore dues to MTNL, followed by Rs.1.97 crore owed by six sitting members. The list for former MPs defaulting upon their bills is led by Rajya...

My attention was drawn to “An Open Letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal” which was signed by thirty members of the civil society of Kolkata and Delhi. What disturbed me was the tone and tenor of the language used in the letter in denouncing Ms Mamata Banerjee’s bold initiative in inviting the Maoists of Junglemahal for a dialogue after “ceasefire”. May I ask with all humility who among the...

-PTI   140 Rajya Sabha members have declared that they do not have any pecuniary interests as directors of companies, controlling shares, regular Salaries, paid consultancies and professional engagements despite some of them having declared assets worth crores in their election affidavits.   Voluntary groups, Association of Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, which received this information under the Right to Information Act, on Thursday made public the Register of Interests of Rajya Sabha Members...