-The Economic Times   At a time when the highway sector is showing signs of revival, a fresh controversy has come to haunt the road transport and highways ministry, with World Bank demanding a probe into "fraudulent and corrupt" practices by Indian contractors working on highway projects funded by the Bank. World Bank's Institutional Integrity Unit has sent a detailed report to the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry, which has...

-The Times of India   The highways ministry has ordered a probe into alleged corrupt practices used by two private highway developers in three World Bank-funded projects - Lucknow-Muzaffarpur, Grand Trunk Road and the Third National Highway Project. Highways minister C P Joshi claimed that those found guilty would be held responsible and appropriate action will be taken against them. He said, "We have asked NHAI to investigate and submit the report. We...

The disaster in Japan revealed many risks that were earlier unknown; it is important to assess the risks in India in a transparent manner and explain which are worth taking. The nuclear plant accident at Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011 exemplifies the prescient remark of nuclear reactor pioneer, the late Alvin Weinberg, that “a nuclear accident somewhere is a nuclear accident everywhere.” After Fukushima, many countries initiated a reconsideration of the...

Kanak Dixit: We have with us Aruna Roy, from Devdungri village in Rajasthan, who has, among other things, been able to take the Right to Information (RTI) from janasunuwais, or public hearings at the village level, all the way to national legislation that encompasses all of India. It is a movement that is truly global in scale. Aruna, a question that has been troubling me quite a bit in the context...

Sending a clear message that the 2G spectrum allocation of 2008 is a scam and not the result of a government policy decision, the Supreme Court today quashed the grant of 122 UAS licences and allocation of spectrum to 12 private companies. Even as the trial in the 2G case progresses in a Patiala House trial court in Delhi, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly held...