Family members and friends hail Supreme Court order granting bail to rights activist Friends, family members and Union Ministers on Friday hailed the Supreme Court order granting bail to rights activist Binayak Sen, with his lawyer Ram Jethmalani saying the verdict was an endorsement of the right to freedom of speech as “a principle of democracy.” Union Minister Salman Khurshid expressed happiness over the court decision to release Dr. Sen, who was...
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Social crisis ahead: World Bank, IMF by Narayan Lakshman
Even as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual Spring Meetings kicked into top gear, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn made a strong case for reducing global inequality if economic growth was to be sustained. Speaking earlier this week at the Brookings Institution, Mr. Kahn said, “Because growth beset by social tensions is not conducive to economic and financial stability, the IMF cannot be indifferent to distribution issues. And when...
More »Everybody loves to fight poverty by Puja Mehra
It is not often that a social security programme the size of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS - New Delhi has spent Rs 40,000 crore on it in 2010/11 alone - faces an existential moment. But, April 2011 will present one such crossroad: the end of the term of a bureaucrat widely acknowledged as the prime mover behind the five-year old scheme. Brought in six years ago to the Centre from her parent...
More »Manmohan seeks report from Railways on incident involving volleyball player Arunima by K Balchand
She lost a limb after she was thrown out of a running train; Railway promises all help for her rehabilitation Distressed over the incident in which national volleyball player Arunima alias Sonu Sinha was thrown out of a running train causing her to lose a limb, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a detailed report from the Railways. With Dr. Singh away in China attending the BRICS summit, the Prime Minister's...
More »Jan Lokpal bill: addressing concerns by Prashant Bhushan
The draft bill seeks to create an institution that will be independent of those it seeks to police, and will have powers to investigate and prosecute all public servants, and others found guilty of corrupting them. A number of commentators have raised issues about the provisions in the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. They have asked whether it would be an effective instrument to check corruption. They have pointed to...
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