On Monday evening, when the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption, headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, meets, it is likely to decide to make a recommendation to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to end all discretionary powers enjoyed by Ministers, informed sources have said. This comes in the wake of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) submitting to the GoM a list of 38 departments in the...

India’s rulers have found a new vocation – maligning environmentalists and questioning the very idea of regulating industry for pollution. Thus, faced with criticism of Lavasa, an artificial gated city of the super-rich near Pune, in which his family has invested crores, Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, lashed out at well-known activist Medha Patkar and other “vested interests” for obstructing this “pioneering” project. Lavasa’s promoters built the project without seeking environmental clearance...

NGOs To No Go’s     * NGOs have mushroomed; so have instances of misappropriation of funds     * Not disclosing expenditure and receipts; nor revealing who funds them     * Not setting up NGO for the task it was funded for     * Flocking to 'hot' topics, inviting accusations of singing to industrialists’ tunes     * For every NGO supporting a cause, another springs up against that cause *** NGO numbers     * 3.3 million Number of NGOs...

In its bid to put in place a concrete anti-corruption mechanism, the government has asked the chief justices of all 21 high courts in the country to fast track pending graft-related cases by ensuring decisions are taken within a definite time period. Following the setting up of a nine-member group of ministers (GoM) to finalise a framework to tackle corruption, law minister M Veerappa Moily, in his letter to the...

The key to the United Progressive Alliance’s return to power in 2009 lay in its promise of “inclusive growth” centred on the aam aadmi. On top of the launching of the Mahatma Ga­ndhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), this gave the UPA immeasurably greater appeal and legitimacy than its rivals. But it also entailed obligations to implement other rights-based programmes, on food security, education and healthcare, am­ong others. The National...