Delhi’s lokayukta, justice Manmohan Sarin, has been doing a commendable job. In a series of interventions in recent months, he has shown what a lokayukta, or the proposed lokpal, can do to clean up the mess politicians often create.
In a pocket-sized outlet running along tony shops in Oshiwara-Behrampada area of Andheri West—one of Mumbai’s busiest suburbs—Alam, a young labourer from Uttar Pradesh, has come to send Rs 1,500 home to his mother’s savings
Three months ago, I resumed playing badminton after an 18-year sabbatical. When I last played, at 12, it was one of the many sports I played thanks to my naval officer father who encouraged—forced—three/four hours of play on me every d
Karimnagar district collector Smita Sabharwal has been given the Gold Award for the best e-governance project (a health and nutrition initiative for expecting mothers) by the Andhra Pradesh government. The district has also won the Platinum Award
For the record, the record books and history will show the UPA 1 and 2 governments under Manmohan Singh as one of the most dented and tainted governments, with its unique achievement being the lack of governance, as many apolitical sceptics and po
In good old days of gramophones, the most irritating moments came when you would put on an LP record without dusting it properly. As the pin got stuck in the dirt, you would hear the screeching sound as the line repeated itself, as if on the loop.
Now citizens can apply for an array of government services including grievance redressal, municipal services, birth and death, caste and domicile certificates with the help of their cell phones. Currently there are two types of services being offe
Prashant Bhushan is back in business, doing what he is best at: playing ping-pong with a largely silent government. Addressing the media on an unusually hot and muggy Delhi afternoon on Tuesday, the lawyer and social activist raised the heat a few
Phaneesh Murthy must be darned happy. Not because he was sacked this morning as CEO of outsourcing company iGate Corp — people at the rough end of the axe about to fall on them rarely are — but because he might just have fathered a nou
The government is pushing for public sector enterprises/ undertakings (PSUs) to be more adept at doing business in increasingly liberalised markets. “Favouring PSUs by the government can be anti-competitive, and create an un-level pl
Vinod Rai is retiring tomorrow (May 22), and as of today there is no official announcement on his successor. Media reports quoting anonymous officials say defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma’s appointment has been cleared by president Prana
Every time a walking stick saves an old man from falling over, somebody in this small village in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh receives silent blessings. Hands that tremble over the sturdy stick travel in a mirage of time to draw reassurance fr
Y S Bharati Reddy, the wife of Congress’s bête noire in Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, has written to the prime minister against the continued incarceration of her husband. Bharati, in a four-page letter has said that the centr
The stage is set for the axe to fall on two Andhra Pradesh ministers whose names figured in CBI chargesheets in connection with the illegal assets case against YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Ending weeks of suspense and dilly-dall
Is media jumping the gun in the IPL spot-fixing episode? In particular, are there more players involved in the racket as speculated in several news reports? Sources in the special cell of the Delhi Police maintain that it is all kite-flying, and a
The complete breakdown in governance in the UPA-II government was visible this week, when 15 items listed on the agenda were either postponed or adopted during a Cabinet meeting headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh. And all the activity took pl
It took Mr Biswas a lifetime of hard work to have a house of his own in VS Naipual’s 1961 classic novel, ‘A House for Mr Biswas’. In real life, however, not getting a house of his own ensured a lifetime of hard work for Mr Jain.
A recent public interest litigation (PIL) in the supreme court to make it illegal to watch porn, considering it as one of the factors which compel a man to rape, has stirred the age-old debate whether porn is harmless or not. Kamlesh Vaswa
In what is seen as a step forward in curtailing cartelisation, the competition appellate tribunal (COMPAT) has directed 11 cement companies to cough up 10 percent of a whopping Rs 6,307-crore penalty imposed on them by the competition watchdog on
Five years ago, during the first season, I was convinced that the Indian Premier League (IPL) was caught in a vice-like grip of organised betting syndicate(s). At pubs in Delhi, I found different groups of dozen or more youngsters (21-30 years) wh
