Delhi-based RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal has criticised the central information commission (CIC) for sending back an RTI petition filed by him on a flimsy ground – that it was not legible and readable, among other. The CIC, w
Ram Manohar Lohia was far from being apt when he described Indira Gandhi as “gungi gudia (dumb doll)”. The loquacious socialist leader obviously always proved to be more than a match even for her father Jawaharlal Nehru when it
Do you talk the land you walk? In case of Uttar Pradesh, it seems so. The ancient place has always cast — history is witness — its soothing effect on its inhabitants, rendering them tolerant in face of oppression and helping them incul
While a Mumbai Police team did not find either Gurunanth Meiyappan, ‘team principal’ of IPL team Chennai Super Kings and son in law of BCCI chief and team owner N Srinivasan, at his home yesterday, and he sought to be excused for the w
While a Mumbai Police team did not find either Gurunanth Meiyappan, ‘team principal’ of IPL team Chennai Super Kings and son in law of BCCI chief and team owner N Srinivasan, at his home yesterday, and he sought to be excused for the w
The public accounts committee (PAC) will scrutinise the expenditure of funds on schemes under the rural development ministry on May 29. The PAC chairman, Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP, has asked senior officials of the ministry to be present for
Neeraj Kumar must be a very sensitive man. A week after policemen from his team arrested three Rajasthan Royals players and a few non-cricketing men on suspicion of spot-fixing matches in IPL, the Delhi Police commissioner says he has stopped watc
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
