In contrast to the 1990s, when age-old matters of identity drove electoral politics, it appears that development-related issues such as land acquisition and law and order will play a critical role in the contentious campaign for the UP elections due next year. While this can be attributed to the BSP’s “sarvajan” agenda, it also signals the impact of the market economy and the need to attract private investment, which has...
More »SEARCH RESULT
A six-pack judiciary by Tarunabh Khaitan
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sudershan Reddy and Surinder Singh Nijjar passed orders in two politically sensitive cases this week.These orders have caused much controversy over the role of judiciary in constitutional cases. In the first of the two cases, Nandini Sundar v State of Chattisgarh, the judges held that the armed deployment of ill-trained, uneducated and poor tribal youths in combat operations against Naxals by appointing them as...
More »Unwatched Watchdog by Sugata Srinivasaraju
A PIL questions the very legitimacy of the IB No whereofs to it? * A PIL filed in and admitted by the Karnataka High Court asks if the IB is “extra-constitutional” * The IB hasn’t been constituted under an Act of Parliament, does not have a charter of duties * The British set it up in 1887 * The court has served notices on the home ministry and the IB *** Is...
More »People vs the people by Ramachandra Guha
The Supreme Court order against the Salwa Judum’s vigilantism in Chhattisgarh must be read by all, especially government officials. The details of the civil war in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh are largely unknown to most readers of this newspaper. For the region is remote and inaccessible, and easily ignored by the national media. This civil war pits, on the one side, Maoist extremists, and, on the other, a band of...
More »Public utilities elude the RTI net. The cloak of privacy protects companies by Shonali Ghosal
WITH GOVERNMENT agencies like the CBI, NIA and NATGRID having escaped the RTI scanner, publicprivate ventures too are trying to slink away even as activists rally to include them under the Act. After the Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled on 30 May that Mumbai International Airport (Private) Limited (MIAL) is a public authority, the company was set to be the first Public- private Partnership (PPP) to be brought under RTI....
More »