The Indian judicial system, as per news reports, is plagued with the burden of over 32 million cases pending in high courts and subordinate courts. The scenario, however, is more challenging when it comes to pending trials in cases against
The supreme court (SC) on Monday refused to accept a bunch of four PILs filed last week questioning the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission bill (NJAC), 2014 and the 121st amendment bill that would give it a co
India is a giant in comparison to Singapore; more precisely, it is an anthill compared to a bee. In 1960, India had 271 times as many people as Singapore. Admittedly, Singapore has tried gallantly to catch up; it had brought down the population ra
In 1994, the then prime minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, spoke of triggering a mild India fever among Singapore’s business community. The sharp upward trajectory of bilateral trade and investment relationship between the two countries s
Contrary to health minister Harsh Vardhan’s claim, whistle-blower officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi’s appointment as chief vigilance officer of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was not illegal and the central vigilance commi
The ongoing monsoon may have given respite to urban residents from sweltering heat, but their environment offers a breeding ground for various water- and vector-borne diseases. Diarrhoea, Shigella, dengue and tuberculosis have emerged as urban dis
Sanjiv Chaturvedi, the Indian Forest Service officer from Haryana, has been relieved from his duties as the chief vigilance officer of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). And here is why: he was bringing one scam after another to
Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher has dismissed rumours that India opposed the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) so it could dump cheap grains in Africa under the garb of food security. Speaking at an interactive session between heads of reg
Irom Sharmila is used to being called a strong woman. But one of the strongest statements she made yesterday (August 20) after breathing in the fresh monsoon air of Imphal – as a free woman and without a tube attached to her nose that is use
Though the panchayati raj system originally envisioned empowering women, over the years the husbands of elected women and sarpanches have made a mockery of the rules. Now women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi wants put an end to it, b
If artifice is intrinsic to diplomacy, the agenda of the meeting between US secretary of state John Kerry and prime minister Narendra Modi on August 1 was apparently much less about the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) than it was made out to be
Manipur activist Irom Chanu Sharmila has led a long battle against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives sweeping powers to the army. But what has she truly achieved? On August 20, a Manipur court ordered her releas
Tirumala Tirupati Dewasthanam (TTD), the body which manages the world’s richest temple affairs informed that advance booking of Rs 300, special entry ‘darshan’ tickets would commence on August 30 on a trial basis through internet
After making an announcement in his Independence Day speech that his government would scrap the six-decade old planning commission to set up a new think-tank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 19 invited, via Twitter, public views on the shap
Life in Telangana came to a standstill on Tuesday, with the state government conducting a massive household survey across the new state to get comprehensive information on citizens. The exercise has attracted criticism from certain quarter
Three seemingly unrelated developments have put food on the front pages of newspapers after a long time, and I’m not even including the Centre for Science and Environment’s report on antibiotics-infused chicken that’s makin
The Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Being implemented in phases s
When the government began rolling out the e-Panchayat project, it was widely expected to change the governance structure at the village level all across the country. But like all things in India, some states have taken to it wholeheartedly,
The Singapore story is essentially a telling in resilience and collective will. If an analogy between the island-nation and an individual could be drawn, its life-narrative would find place in the annals of history as one of the most inspiring rag
World Bank president Dr Jim Yong Kim has described his meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi last month as “one of the most inspiring meetings I have had as the president of the World Bank group”. In a letter to the
