What can be seen as Delhi’s new government’s first major step in ensuring a corruption-free system , the name of the whistleblower officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi has been proposed for
In an interesting development, Delhi high court has issued a notice to health minister J P Nadda, in a public interest litigation case filed by Centre for public interest and litigation. The CPIL h
The RTI Act has caught the imagination of people and the way it has spread is appreciated and admired around the world. A great change has come in India in the last decade in the power equation bet
Maharashtra’s former minister Chhagan Bhujbal is facing corruption heat. Maharashtra’s anti-corruption bureau conducted searches on Tuesday at 6 properties belonging to Bhujbal and his
Karnataka’s lokayukta, which is supposed to act against corruption, is accused of serious irregularities and the state lawyers have sought the resignation of Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao. The Bar
Governance is 5 percent policy and 95 percent implementation,” former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian writes in his book, The Road to Good Governance. He would know, for he has been a
The Indian Premier League (IPL) case against Lalit Modi is still open with the Chennai police. A cheating case slapped on him in 2010 is pending, said a source in the police department not wishing
Sanjiv Chaturvedi, the Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer who has emerged as a whistle-blower, has won a battle, as the centre has finally approved his long-pending cadre transfer. The app
The Arvind Kejriwal government has invited Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali to perform in the national capital after his concert in Mumbai was cancelled due to Shiv Sena protests, saying "music has
In the past five years, almost Rs. 10,000 crore has been spent on rural sanitation with not much to show for results, says a report of the Comptroller and Audit General of India (CAG). It was table
She still remembers that warm day in May in 2011, when the unimaginable happened and the bastion of the left rule came crashing down. One woman almost single-handedly achieved this feat. Sharbani,
A staggering 72 percent of the respondents believe that management is likely to cut corners to meet targets, said the The Global Fraud Survey by Ernst & Young. Also, 70 percent of India respond
Amidst uproar in parliament over corruption in the AgustaWestland chopper deal and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy’s attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, another twist in the tale has emerged. In
“Political science is actually pronounced as ‘prodigal science’ and it is a subject on cookery.” This statement is not coming from a kindergarten kid who is trying to make s
The Lokpal law that was enacted after decades of debate and demand for an anti-corruption institution was dealt a severe blow as an amendment bill was introduced and passed by parliament in l
Growing population and corruption are the two main hindrances in the way of good governance towards the development of India, said justice HL Dattu, chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (N
We had two parallel exercises in the government for the last 30-40 years. Every time we had a discussion on economic policy or budget there always was discussion on rationalisation of subsidies. An
In a bold step, prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. He said that the decision will check corruption and black money. The decision has come soon
Digital payment companies have hailed PM’s decision of banning high denomination currency notes (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000) as a major step towards cashless economy. “This is t
Harshad Mehta The superhero stock-broker dropped a bomb in July 1993, when he told a press conference that he had paid prime minister PV Narasimha Rao a bribe of Rs
While there is no co-relation between scrapping of higher denomination currency notes with elections, but if this move makes poll costs cheap, it is good, said finance minister Arun Jaitley.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Tuesday evening caught everyone, not just black money hoarders, by surprise. Minutes after the announcement, the news about Rs 500 and
As banks started exchanging currency notes from November 10 onwards, long queues were seen outside banks and post offices.
Anjali Thakur, a resident of Indirapuram, Ghaziabad is getting married on November 15. Her wedding preparations are on full swing. However, as the government has scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes,
Now that the government has decided to scrap currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, the millions of notes will end up as briquettes that can even be used for land fillings or for makin
The government’s announcement to scrap Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes will go a long way towards bringing halt to the circulation of counterfeit currency in the country. The common ma
ICAI has issued show cause notice to two Chartered Accountants, who were caught on tape talking about converting black money by charging a commission of 30% to 40%. The premier accou
It may not be wrong to say that a major part of the black money arises from corruption, and that it is usually the downtrodden who is affected the most. A book published in 2011 by e
You have read (or heard or seen) countless analyses, points-counterpoints, theories-conspiracy theories and allegations-counter-allegations on the historic move to ban high-denomination currency no
It is high time the authorities woke up to the “pathetic, gruelling conditions” that bank employees are being subjected following the move to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, s
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley sparred over demonetization in parliament on Thursday. Manmohan spoke of the “monumental management failure” in im
Remember the Lokpal? The one-point panacea for all corruption and black money. It is a law, on the statute book. And while the government has launched a surgical strike against black money that has
On November 8, the Government of India announced its decision to pull high-value currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination out of circulation, with immediate effect. A detailed procedure
I was glued to the television screen, following the US presidential election coverage. In the midst of an extremely intense television debate, where each participant was grappling for airtime
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday withdrew its order of December 19 which had stipulated that the demonetised currency notes could be deposited only once in the quantum of Rs 5,000 or mo
Concerned about the abuse of power, French sociologist David Émile Durkheim in 1912 wrote that there could be no society which, at regular intervals, did not feel the need to uphold and reaf
If fighting black money is the aim, demonetisation is the wrong weapon, says India’s largest and oldest business body. “Demonetisat
As much as 69 percent of the income of six national political parties and 51 regional parties has come from unknown sources, according to a long-term data analysis carried out by the Association fo
While presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha, the finance minister made some announcements about the manner in which he sought to make donations to political parties more transparent. If the propos
There is a common thread between the charges of alleged corruption CBI has filed against former public servants – Manmohan Singh (prime minister), Harish Gupta (secretary, coal), Shashindra P
There’s a lot of mud-slinging going on after prime minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on his predecessor Manmohan Singh: “Only Dr Sahab knows the art of taking bath in the bathr
The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), in one of the world’s largest surveys of employment trends, found the number of women employed falling from 126.49 million (29.4 perc
CBI is supposed to be the last resort to catch the corrupt after all other options have not yielded the desired result. But, who will now tackle corruption now that two of the former top official
What is the thinking behind launching the Swaraj party? To answer that question, we have to go back in time and see why we formed the Aam Aadmi Party [AAP].
A march will be held against corruption in Delhi on Thursday, with activists demanding, among others, operationalisation of Lokpal law as well as Whistleblowers Protection law. The
The government has told the supreme court that the Lokpal cannot be appointed because the 2013 law needs several amendments, which will be taken up only in the monsoon session. The N
In a little over a month, the BJP government would be completing three years in office. Yet, there is no sign of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas who would have battled black money.
"Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust uh.. and another one, and another one". Apro dikro (our lad) Freddie Mercury`s hit song from the 1980s is in real danger of b
Remember Sanjiv Chaturvedi? The one who won the 2015 Ramon Magsaysay for his crusade against corruption. The whistle-blower officer has been facing difficulties from various regimes, and th
If it was needed at all, the supreme court has cleared the air. The Lokpal Act, it has ruled, is perfectly implementable even without the pending amendments. The interpretation from the apex court
A senior bureaucrat, apparently much respected among the administrative circles, faces two years in jail. His crime: a decision that may have come from the political leadership
I am reminded of what my teacher had told me in school: “When a society wishes to blatantly show how unjust it can be, it will crucify the best.” On June 13 when I heard about the convi
After the Narendra Modi government was formed in 2014, a series of measures have been introduced, like the legislative initiatives of amendments in the Prevention of Corruption Act, which are very
What is the role of CVC in curbing corruption and black money? Unlike many things in life, corruption is not episodic. It is not possible to talk of a completely corrupti
Heavily sweetened dirty deals have always raised a stink and there is no end to insatiable greed. The problem in this country is that the morbid stench of corruption is no longer ov
When prime minister Narendra Modi spoke about action against benami properties while delivering the I-Day address from the Red Fort ramparts, he was in fact fulfilling a promise he made during th
Former Air India chief Ashwani Lohani on Thursday took the charge as Chairman Railway Board and said his main thrust would be to put an end to corruption and VIP culture. Lohani tol
The latest leak of data about international tax offenders, ‘Paradise Papers’, has prompted former UK prime minister Gordon Brown to launch an online petition to the Group of 20, seeking
With the acquittal of all the accused in the 2G scam and conviction of Lalu Prasad Yadav in the chara ghotala, scams are in the headlines again. We Indians love scams so much that the word ‘s
During his reply on the Motion of Thanks to the Address of the President of India, in the Lok Sabha on February 7, prime minister Narendra Modi compared his government`s efforts to curb corruption
India is faring worse and worse on Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’: the latest for 2017 shows India ranking a poor 81 (placed between Ghana and Morocco)
One of the three big elections before the grand final next year is over. Predictably, there was mud-slinging and allegations, caste equations and mutt visits, histories and histrionics: With a pinc
In 1988, at the peak of the Rajiv Gandhi-VP Singh face-off fuelled by media exposes, the most respected editor of those times, Girilal Jain, wrote a comment in The Times of India with the hea
Tumse pehle jo shakhs yahan takht-nashin tha Usko bhi apne khuda hone pe itna hi yakeen tha (The man who sat on this throne before you was equally convinced of b
In political discourse, the term ‘Banana Republic’ defines a state with a high degree of political instability, societal violence and oppressive inequality. American author O Henr
“You will soon be talking to a new foreign secretary,” said prime minister Rajiv Gandhi announcing the sacking of the incumbent at a televised press conference in 1986. Foreign secret
The recent conviction of former coal secretary Harish Chandra Gupta and other officers by a CBI court in a case relation to allocation of a coal block in West Bengal has raised many questions relat
The arrest of Palaniappan Chidambaram, former union minister of home & finance, by the CBI, albeit after his much dramatic disappearance and reappearance, has brought an end to his long run fro
When it was launched on October 12, 2005, the Right to Information Act ushered in a revolution, empowering common citizens to ask questions on a range of government activities and seek accountabili
Fifteen years back, the Right To Information (RTI) Act became operational on October 12, 2005. It was the auspicious day of Vijayadashmi. It appeared to herald a new evolution in Indian democracy.
Amid political turmoil in Maharashtra over allegations made by the former Mumbai police chief, the ruling coalition allies met NCP chief Sharad Pawar late Sunday, leaving the fate of home minister
Anil Deshmukh is reportedly considering approaching the supreme court Tuesday to challenge a Bombay high court order that had forced him to quit as home minister of Maharashtra a day earlier.
Citing non-supply of a copy of the ‘enforcement case information report’ (ECIR) and related documents, former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday did not make per
The BrihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has rejected BJP MLA Ameet Satam’s demand in a letter to BMC commissioner Iqbal Chahal to cancel the appointment of Sunil Rathod, deputy chief eng
From climate targets to COVID vaccines, India has shown willingness to take the lead in any kind of crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, adding, “And now, at a time when nations and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The CBI was establish
Between 1st January, 2019 and 30th November 2022, the Mumbai Anti- Corruption Bureau received 10,930 complaints, out of which only 276 inquiries were ordered. Out of these inquiries only four FIRs
India has the highest overall bribery rate in the Asian region at 39%, and at 46%, the highest rate of citizens using personal connections to get work done, according to Transparency International.
Transforming the Steel Frame: Promise and Paradox of Civil Service Reform Edited by Vinod Rai Rupa, 256 pages, Rs 595
As many as 88% of the people who participated in a survey believe India is a corrupt country. Corruption has adversely affected 82% of the respondents, according to the India Corruption Research Re
Fool Bahadur By Jayanath Pati (Translated by Abhay K.) Penguin Modern Classics, 112 pages, Rs 250
A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai Thursday sentenced Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and editor of party mouthpiece, ‘Saamna’, to 15 days imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2
