-The Hindu The Finance Ministry proposal to create a National Investment Board with extraordinary authority to supersede individual ministries and decide the fate of expensive infrastructure projects is a retrograde measure that strikes at the root of democratic governance. The basic tenets of all law-making include public participation, equity and justice, more so when it comes to the environment and welfare. India’s laws on protection of the environment, forests, wildlife and...

-The Hindustan Times The Haryana government has notified a policy to provide security to whistleblowers and Right to Information (RTI) activists. An official spokesman said on Tuesday that a whistleblower could be a person who made a complaint or exposed any government office or undertaking or company about an attempt to commit or commission of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. He said an RTI activist was a person...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Chief minister Narendra Modi never leaves a chance to hit out at the Nehru-Gandhis. But he has thus far remained silent on anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal's allegations against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. Interestingly, Modi himself is alleged to have allotted one lakh square metres of prime land in Gandhinagar in 2007 to the realty major at concessional rate. According to a memorandum signed by...

-The Hindu India Against Corruption should realise the ‘aam aadmi’ needs not only decentralised power but also a lofty vision There are two underlying themes of India Against Corruption’s new party: the induction of good people and “people’s power” through consummate decentralisation. The vision document sets out a quest for “swaraj,” people’s right to self-determination. This ideal of self-determination has been conflated with direct democracy. Thus the vision document indicates that “as...

-Live Mint Incidents at Bhopal and Indore highlight irregularities and ethical violations in some trials In 2004, doctors at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), established exclusively for treating the victims of the 1984 gas leak, recruited unsuspecting survivors for clinical trials without their knowledge or consent; 14 participants died during the course of the trials. Together with the episode in Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (that Mint reported on 10...