-BBC   A report on a controversial bill to set up an anti-corruption watchdog has been submitted in India's parliament. The bill was tabled in parliament in August but was sent to a panel of MPs after protests from anti-corruption activists who said it was too weak. Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare has rejected the new draft too, saying it does not go far enough as it does not include lower-level bureaucracy. He has announced plans...

U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...

-The Hindu   Move to give more teeth in combating corruption In a move envisaged to give more teeth in combating corruption, the Bihar Assembly on Wednesday passed the Bihar Lokayukta Bill, 2011 by voice vote. State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Vijendra Prasad Yadav tabled the Bill which was subsequently taken up for voting by the Speaker Mr. Uday Narayan Chaudhary, following deliberations by legislators from the ruling and Opposition parties. “We have drawn up...

After the recent murder of Nadeem Saiyed, an RTI (right-to-information) activist and key witness in a major communal riot case in the city, one more whistle-blower has been attacked in a village near here. Poonam Solanki,  who is also a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in neighbouring Daskroi taluka, was assaulted by supporters of Popat Solanki, ‘sarpach’ of Bakrol village and chairman of a local co-operative organisation on...

Declaring that the “Supreme Court will remain the Supreme Court, and cannot be converted into Parliament”, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia today refused to “prematurely” intervene in the setting up of an independent regulator to monitor safety of nuclear plants, saying it was a policy decision, with a Bill already pending in the House. Efforts by advocate Prashant Bhushan, a Team Anna member, to...