The parliamentary standing committee on finance was tasked to examine the changes proposed by The Companies Bill, 2009. The committee made various recommendations, one of which relates to mandatory corporate social responsibility by companies. Stemming from a concern for a comprehensive CSR policy, the committee’s report states that the bill may now include a mandatory provision tha
Is Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi, that is) relevant today? To that clichéd question that pops up twice a year, Narayan Desai’s answer is: he remains as relevant as you want him to be. Last year, there were reports from West Bank, which has been witnessing one of the most violent conflicts of our times, that Palestinians were trying o
Watching ‘No One Killed Jessica’ is not like viewing any other film. One, it deals with too recent a history. Secondly it leaves one kind of confused. Whose tale is it? The fighter Sabrina or the foul mouthed TV anchor? Does it convey the victory of truth over evil or the result of a master con game played by a rising media star out to prove a point to her peers? Whatever, the film
Forty days before anti-Mubarak slogans rented the air at Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 25, India’s Supreme Court passed a stricture against a cabinet minister. The court slammed Vilasrao Deshmukh for abusing his power as Maharashtra chief minister by shielding a Congress MLA, doubling as dubious money lender and accused of squeezing debt-ridden Vidarbha farmers dry, against crimi
The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform itself.” Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political thinker, may have altered his views if he could have taken the Manmohan Singh government into account. This government not only lacks the courage to even go through the charade of reforms but also buries its head deep in the sand in the face of the gathering stor
The corporate affairs ministry has initiated a healthy debate on corporate social responsibility that has thrown up several ideas. The latest among them is that companies with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more (or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more) should set aside two percent of the net profit for CSR. The parliamentary standing committee on finance headed by former finance minister Yashwant
The remarkable success story of the “green revolution”, which turned a starving nation into a food sufficient one in a matter of years, can’t be overstated. Ironically, however, one of the key elements of that revolution – extensive use of chemical fertilizer which was subsidised by the government - now threatens to turn that very revolution on its head. In a report that
On December 13, 2009, the champions of the right to information (RTI) act held demonstrations across the country, protesting against the government’s desire to amend the act. Aruna Roy was the face of one of these demonstrations held near Jantar Mantar in the capital. Prithiviraj Chavan, then minister of state for personnel, grievances and training, went on record saying t
It is common practice for government to ignore opinions of bodies of experts when the latter differ with what those in power want to hear. Think of all those commissions of inquiry. But if you believe it is only due to political reasons that the government rejects the findings of bodies it sets up, here i
In the season of scams, one more has come to the fore. This time, it is biggest of them all. According to the Hindu report, the CAG is investigating spectrum allocation of 70 MHz in the precious s-band to a private company, Devas Multimedia Private Limited, by the department of space (DoS), without auctioning. CAG’s preliminary estimate suggests a loss of Rs 2 lakh crore
“It is very much possible to write an RTI application in 250 words,” a lawyer friend recently told me. He even showed me a few applications that he had drafted. All within the stipulated 250 words, as mandated by a draft RTI rule proposed by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) for applications demanding information from government offices. It was discon
Lobbying and the individuals, some self-professed and others who have famously or notoriously earned the title of lobbyists, have recently been scorned at in India. Their existence appears to have astonished some. Their role in civil society and administration has been questioned by others. And their purported influence on the government machinery has left many shocked. Consequently, profession
‘March against corruption’ across several cities of the country last Sunday, which was spearheaded by RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and in which anti-corruption crusaders like Prashant Bhushan, JM Lyngdoh, JF Ribeiro and Medha Patkar, among others, participated, makes two broad points. One that corruption is no longer a non-issue and that people are angry enough to come out to the st
Ahmedabad`s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is being widely hailed as a success story. And for perfectly compelling reasons. It is a case of a concept well executed, quite unlike its counterpart in Delhi. However, while Ahmedabad`s BRTS is routinely compared, and favourably so, with that in Delhi, there is another equally pertinent comparison that needs to be made if we want t
The United States reiterated earlier this week that India is a partner and not a target in curbing global proliferation. By removing several subsidiaries of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the department of commerce’s so-called “entities list” barring export of certain dual-use technologi
