Very little is known generally about operational NGOs that work closely with people on a daily basis. WHILE a good many people in the country know that the Central and State governments have a number of plans and projects to bring about development – not all of them either well-conceived or well administered – they are much less aware of the part played in the overall development process by non-governmental...

The concept of a “parallel” school for children from “weaker sections” of the society evoked strong words of reproach from the Delhi High Court on Wednesday as it pulled up Sanskriti School, primarily catering to children of senior bureaucrats, for making sub-classes even in education. “What do you mean by a parallel school?” a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar asked. “The children of...

The declaration of assets by Supreme Court judges recently is a belated step in the right direction. By challenging the direction of the Central Information Commission in the high court, and then appealing against its decision, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) gave an impression that instead of being a paladin of impartiality and transparency, he was more interested in protecting his peers. This voluntary move appears to have been...

The increase in the number of civil cases in a country is its social mascot, as it symbolises the abundance of law abiding civilised citizens accepting the authority of the judiciary to get their grievances redressed. Otherwise, they would have turned to self-retaliation or employed roughnecks, a usual practice in America and Britain enkindled by their criminal heritage, to enforce justice in their own way; hence all civil litigants may...

PATNA: A staggering 300 Bihar government employees earning modest government salaries are crorepatis. If this isn’t surprising enough, here’s more:    All but two of the sleazy 300 continue to hold on to their secure as also, no doubt, lucrative - government jobs despite long stints in jails. According to official figures, 71 such corrupt babus were caught until November this year by the state vigilance bureau. In 2006, when chief...