-Outlook For the first time, a central government employee, who exposes corruption in his department, will be able to get protection against any threat to his life. According to an amended resolution notified by the government, a nodal officer has been designated in each central ministry to look into complaints of corruption received from whistleblowers--a term given to people who expose corruption in government departments. "The Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) of the Ministries...

-The Hindu Jagdish Bhagwati's attacks on Amartya Sen are based on a series of MISattributions and obscure the real issues on which the two econoMISts differ Rich and lively public debates are the raison d'être of any democracy. But the recent attacks by Professor Jagdish Bhagwati on Dr. Amartya Sen confound the real issues on which Sen and Bhagwati differ. Bhagwati tries to position himself as a proponent of growth that would benefit...

-The Indian Express Censuring the government for "clumsily" drafting laws and "inviting problems", the Supreme Court Wednesday stood by its landmark ruling that MPs and MLAs will be disqualified immediately if convicted in a criminal case by a trial court. A Bench of Justices A K Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhaya, however, agreed to reconsider whether a person in lawful custody also stands disqualified from contesting polls. "There is no error apparent...

-The Indian Express   Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013. The proposed law, which will replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 that suffers from various shortcomings, including silence on the issue of resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced, stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent of landowners for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: While ministers toy with all kinds of ideas to curb consumption of oil, including bizarre ones such as shutting down petrol pumps at night, it might help if they looked inwards. For, the biggest and most profligate oil consumer in the country is the government itself. Petrol flows like water in the government. Not just ministers and officials of the central and state governments, even PSUs...