On their “day of victory”, leaders of Anna Hazare’s movement faced nepotism charges over the inclusion of the father-son duo of lawyers Shanti and Prashant Bhushan in the joint drafting committee for the Lok Pal Bill. Many protesters refused to break their fast when Hazare broke his at 10.45am. They wanted to know why ex-cop Kiran Bedi wasn’t picked while both the Bhushans were in. “This is nepotism. Why is there no...

After raising the issue of nepotism in the newly-appointed joint committee on Lokpal Bill, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday backtracked saying that he had no problem with inclusion of father-son duo Shanti and Prashant Bhushan in the drafting panel. "The question of nepotism was raised by the media and not me. When I was asked about it, I said that though we have played a role in the Jan Lokpal...

In the backdrop of the controversy over the father-son duo being part of the Lokpal drafting committee, noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan said his son Prashant had raised the issue of their inclusion with Anna Hazare but the Gandhian overruled the objection. "Prashant had himself raised the issue with Anna Hazare as to why you are keeping both of us in that committee. You, instead of myself, include others and he (Prashant) had...

Corruption, No. 1 national security threat, is eating into the vitals of the state, enfeebling internal security and crimping foreign policy.  India confronts several pressing national security threats. But only one of them — political corruption — poses an existential threat to the state, which in reality has degenerated into a republic of mega-scandals. The pervasive misuse of public office for private gain is an evil, eating into the vitals...

Politicians, business persons, civil servants, a range of professionals, including doctors and organisers of sports events, and even the judiciary have been in the media spotlight on charges of corruption, nepotism, sleaze and worse. It was to be only a matter of time before the media and media professionals came under public scrutiny for similar acts of omission and commission. The expose on paid news content in the media was...