Think India Foundation

States to get half of Central scheme funds

Patna : States will now have greater flexibility with Centrally-sponsored schemes. The Union government has given its nod to a new plan that will facilitate transfer of 50 per cent of the scheme amount to the states.

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh says the Centre plans to spend more than Rs 88,000 crore this financial year on rural development. “This ought to boost development, but the inflexibility of Central government sponsored schemes are a major hurdle. We want to remove this,” he told reporters here. Read more

Source : business-standard.com

Reform villages, Kalam urges youth on Facebook

New Delhi : Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India’s missile man, on Friday urged the nation’s youth to target reforming villages in the country as “vibrant engines of growth”. Dr Kalam interacted with an enthusiastic group of young men and women on the social networking website Facebook.

Organised by Penguin Books India to promote Dr Kalam’s latest book, Target 3 Billion, the Facebook chat attracted a large number of users hooking onto their screen in wait of his response to their questions. Read more

Source : asianage.com

29 Mhada lottery applicants have been winning repeatedly: Report

Mumbai : A major housing scam of the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority’s (Mhada) 2011 lottery has brought other scams tumbling out of the closet. The enquiry committee, which probed into the 425 winners of 2011 lottery, has found out that 29 applicants have won the lottery more than once since 2006.

Nearly 425 winners of the Mhada housing lottery draw in May 2011 had submitted fake addresses, bank account numbers, and even cellphone numbers. Mhada officials had then instituted an enquiry and sent letters to the winners to appear for a hearing and make their submission. However, only 100 winners made their submission. Most admitted to having filled the forms through brokers. Names of 17 brokers have come before the committee. Read more

Source : dnaindia.com

Anna meets CEC, calls for electoral reforms

New Delhi: Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Thursday met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi and pressed the poll panel to consider implementing the measures suggested by the civil society in the proposed electoral reform process. 

Anna Hazare was accompanied by his close associates Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Mobile phones to aid infrastructure development

Villagers in India suffering daily due to lack of good infrastructure can now initiate action by clicking a picture of the concerned area on their mobile phone, and forwarding the same to the Union ministry of programme implementation, reports ET.

Srikant Jena, minister for programme implementation, has said that they are working on a proposal so that a complaint can be filed through mobile phones. Anyone can take a picture of a substandard road constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, or a poor quality house built under the Indira Awas Yojana, and send it to them. The ministry will inquire and act. Read more

Source : wirelessfederation.com 

BDA lets housing complex crop up inside a ‘park’

Babus, IAS officials allow illegal conversion of 7.9 acres of land, ignore alteration of building plan by developer

The apartment blocks coming up on Bannerghatta Road will have 301 flats

Bangalore : Corruption has crept so deep into the BDA and the state administration that a 7.9-acre piece of land originally meant for a park now houses a residential complex and the owner of the plot has even sold the area marked in the building plan ‘sanctioned’ by BDA as the approach road.

After hearing a private complaint about the discrepancies, in which a few senior IAS officers have also been accused of giving the go-by to the rules, the court directed Lokayukta police to investigate the matter and submit a report before March 30. Read more

Source : bangaloremirror.com

Poll panel steps help ‘minimise’ bogus voting

LUCKNOW - The once serious threat of bogus votes being cast, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh which at present is in the midst of a crucial seven-phase election to its 403-member state legislative assembly, has now been ‘minimised’ following a series of effective and “almost fool-proof” measures which have been introduced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in recent years. 

Atiq Ahmad Siddiqui, the officer on special duty at the commission’s chief electoral office in the state capital Lucknow told Khaleej Times that, “with our electoral rolls now also carrying the identical photograph of the voter which appears below a tamper-proof hologram on his or her ECI identity card, it has become virtually impossible to impersonate a registered voter and cast a bogus vote.” Read more

Source : khaleejtimes.com

Industry doyens give thumbs up to Bihar dvpt, credit Nitish for progress

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that though the state’s interest had been ignored by successive central governments since Independence, the spirit of the people had not been dampened and they had set the course for development with social justice under NDA rule.

Speaking at the conclusion of the three-day Global Summit on Changing Bihar, Kumar singled out agriculture as the backbone of the state’s economy. Read more

Source : firstpost.com

Bihar needs new model for urban growth: Expert

PATNA: While rising urbanization is considered a necessary accompaniment of any developing society, Bihar is likely to reach the dead end of development sooner than later, since the state's urbanization process has been moving at a pace far below the national average. 

Harsh Singh, director of Market Solutions for Inclusion (New Delhi), who participated at a panel discussion on 'Devising an appropriate strategy for urban development' at the 'Global Summit on Changing Bihar'on Sunday said he has an alternative model called Navoday Shahar Model (NSM) for the poor and landless. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Elections give a respite to illegal riverbed mining in Uttarakhand

Dehradun (ANI) : Corruption-free rule if voted to power again topped the agendas of leading political parties during the campaigning last month for the assembly elections on January 30th. Other promises included, predictably, uninterrupted power supply and employment for the local youth. 

The effect of the Uttarakhand elections 2012 will only be known in March. In the meantime, an unlikely set of beneficiaries have been the residents of Tailihat village in Garur Mandal of Bageshwar District in Uttarakhand, located on the banks of a local river - Gomti. They were given the gift of peaceful nights; for, as even an amateur politician knows, campaigning and elections are no time to get one's hands dirty with illegal river bed mining. Read more

Source : newstrackindia.com

'RTE Act going MGNREGA way in state'

GUWAHATI: Coming down heavily on government inaction with regard to violation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in Assam, well-known intellectual Hiren Gohain slammed the state government for failing "severely" to ensure free and fair education for children up to 14 years in Assam.

Speaking at a seminar organized by city-based NGO Sangrami Krishak Shramik Sangha (SKSS), Gohain said the RTE Act was a historic act passed by the Centre, but in the state, it has met the same fate as the central employment guarantee act, MGNREGA. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Social audit, CAG to rein in MNREGA corruption: Ramesh

Patna : Union Minister for Rural Development Jai Ram Ramesh said on Tuesday that social audit and CAG audit report would come in handy to maintain better vigil and to rein in corruption in MNREGA and Indira Awas Yojna (IAY).

Talking to reporters during a two-day visit to the state, Ramesh said the annual expenditure of the union rural development ministry was to the tune of over Rs 88,500 crore and they have decided to involve CAG for proper evaluation of the expenditure. Read more

Source : expressindia.com

Huda estate officer’s Sec-56 office sealed

Gurgaon : After receiving complaints against the estate officer-2, Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) administrator Praveen Kumar on Monday issued an order to seal the EO-2 office in Sector 56.

Mukesh Kumar Solanki, the EO-2, has been barred from entering his office, a senior Huda official said.

Solanki had been under surveillance of the Huda administrator for the past several days after complaints of bribery and other irregularities against him from the public. Read more

Source : hindustantimes.com

58 CWG-related works under CVC scanner for alleged corruption

New Delhi : The Central Vigilance Commission is looking into 58 cases of alleged graft and irregularities in various projects carried out by the government for the Commonwealth Games held here over a year ago.

The cases being looked into by the Commission include corruption in procurement of display boards, air conditioners, construction of stadia, games venue, foot overbridges, bus queue shelters and appointment of workforce including insurance consultant and placement broker in the Organising Committee. Read more

Source : dnaindia.com

TRAI likely to issue biz guidelines for new operators

Hyderabad: To protect mobile users' interest in the backdrop of cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court, telecom regulator TRAI is likely to come out with fresh guidelines on the business modalities to be followed by the companies that have lost licences, according to sources.

     
As the companies, which have invested billions of dollars in infrastructure, are set to lose the existing licences in four months, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is examining the issues such as selling recharge coupons and fresh connections by these service providers, sources close to the development said. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Multi-crore land scam accused continues in Delhi government

New Delhi (IANS) : One of the accused in Delhi's multi-crore land scam in 2007, who allegedly allotted plots to fictitious people and sold them at exorbitant rates and was accused of cheating and criminal conspiracy, continues to be director in the Delhi government's sensitive Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) despite his deputation having expired way back in 2008.

IANS has access to documents which show that the six-year deputation term of S.N.S. Sidhu, who is currently director (Administration and Law) in DUSIB, expired on June 3, 2008, and no extension has been granted to him. Read more

Source : daijiworld.com

Rs 200-crore land scam shadow on Tripura governor DY Patil

New Delhi : Tripura governor D.Y. Patil has been accused of perpetrating a Rs 200-crore land scam at Pimri-Chinchwad near Pune. The charge has been made by RTI activist and builder Ravindra Barhate.

Barhate claimed on Thursday that Patil was in possession of 39.90 lakh sq ft of land in violation of rules. The former Maharashtra MLA had in 2003 got registered the Dr D.Y. Patil Educational Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which purchased 100 acres from farmers. But the acquisition was against the urban land ceiling Act, which has since been repealed, Barhate claimed. Read more

Source : indiatoday.intoday.in

Did builder in Punjab sell you plot he doesn't own?

Chandigarh : Here's a scam warning for those who have recently bought plots and apartments from private property developers.

The dream home you own, or the plot on which you aim to build it, may have been sold to you by people who do not even own it. Read more

Source : expressindia.com

Munda worried over tardy pace of development

Ranchi : Expressing concern over lower expenditure by the Departments, Chief Minister Arjun Munda said that the Government was worried about the pace of development and willing to expedite the efforts in this direction. A mere Rs 4,023 crore out of total plan outlay of Rs 15,300 crore, had been utilised by all the departments till December last year.

Talking to reporters after the review meeting, the CM said that apart from keeping an eye on expenditure, his Government was also committed to come down hard on corrupt officials, siphoning the money meant for development works. “We are worried about the lesser expenses. We have formulated some other ways that would be reflected in the days to come. Instructions have been passed to all the departments in this regard.” Read more

Source : dailypioneer.com

'Growth & development works undertaken in Allahabad city'

ALLAHABAD: Claiming that during his previous tenure as MLA from City North assembly constituency, Congress leader Anugrah Narayan Singh said that he has worked sincerely towards undertaking development works in his constituency following set norms of quality.

Speaking to newspersons here on Tuesday he said that upon receiving reports of corruption and irregularities committed in work sanctioned under MLA development fund he brought the matter to the notice of Vidhan Sabha on August 12, 2008 after which the matter was referred to a high level committee which inquired into the issue. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Study links polls to slump in real estate business

CHANDIGARH: A study focusing on election funding and cement consumption in at least 17 states of the country, including Punjab, has highlighted the role of black money in elections. The study, done by two Indian-origin US political scientists, has established how cement sales are linked to elections due to a deep nexus between politicians and real estate developers.

While electoral activity in Punjab ended recently and wait for results is on, the state has registered an overall slump in construction activity in the past two months. The authors of the study, Devesh Kapur of University of Pennsylvania and Milan Vaishnav of Columbia University, compiled information on the monthly consumption of cement and the timing of elections in India's 17 major states from 1995 to 2010. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Britain begged India to accept aid money: Telegraph

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last year asked the UK to cease giving aid to the country’s booming economy, but relented after being begged to take the money for fear of “grave political embarrassment”, reports the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

“We do not require the aid. It is a peanut in our total development exercises [expenditure],” Mukherjee told the upper house of Indian parliament, during question time, adding that the government wanted to give it up. Read more

Source : minivannews.com

New Lokayukta SPP delaying proceedings in corruption cases

Bangalore, DHNS : Appointed last Dec, prosecutor has failed to acquaint himself with cases

The ''dismantling'' of the Lokayukta institution can be seen not just in the tussle over the appointment of the Lokayukta, but in seemingly smaller moves like the appointment of public prosecutors of the Lokayukta police.

The Bangalore police wing of the Lokayukta in the last month and a half has been grappling with a confounding problem. Read more

Source : deccanherald.com

KSRP to probe forgery by cops

MYSORE: The Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) on Thursday said it will investigate the case of police personnel trying to procure sites from MUDA submitting forged documents.

The KSRP commandant (V battalion) Krishnappa said he received information about the case and will launch a probe. Of the 12 cops accused in the case, 10 are attached to the V battalion, he told TOI. One is serving in XI battalion based at Hassan and another is attached to Indian reserve battalion stationed at Bijapur, he said. "This is a serious case and we will probe it," he stated. The 12 cops are facing charges of trying to procure the sites clandestinely forging the sanction letters. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Land sharks corner 2,580 acres in Bangalore Urban

BANGALORE : This land is estimated to be valued around Rs. 5,000 crore

Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda on Thursday revealed that land sharks had got 2,580.02 acres of government land in Bangalore urban district illegally transferred to their names by fabricating 382 files. Read more

Source : thehindu.com

Building a new urban India

A recent opinion poll sponsored by this newspaper, across the country's biggest eight urban agglomerations, found even the best rated among them barely making it to a rating of 'average'. The frequent sloganeering about Delhi soon becoming "the world's most beautiful city" or Mumbai "a global financial hub" appears straight out of the famous British serial 'Yes Minister'. There, Sir Humphrey Appleby underscores the law of Inverse Relevance - the less you intend to do or are capable of doing something, the more you have to keep talking about it.

What Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata are left to mean to an ordinary citizen is crime, grime and chaos; vast wastelands of miseropolis. Our cities keep bearing the brunt of traumas such as an Uphaar blaze in Delhi or the AMRI inferno in Kolkata. Monsoon downpours paralyse Delhi by waterlogging year after year, much like they turn Mumbai into a familiar cesspool along with its potholed roads and gridlocked traffic. Fires, floods, even terror can benumb any of our cities any time. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CAG to audit NRHM scheme in 18 states

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has decided to audit the spending of all states under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme. 

After unearthing a Rs 5,754-crore NRHM scam in Uttar Pradesh, the CAG will conduct independent audits of the scheme in 17 other states to ascertain losses to the exchequer, if any. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Nitish govt taking Bihar on the path of development : Governor

PATNA: Bihar governor Devanand Konwar pledged the Nitish Kumar government would take the state on the development trajectory with thrust on strengthening the infrastructural facilities, electricity, agriculture and ensuring development with justice. 

Unfurling national tricolour on the occasion of 63rd Republic day at national function at the historic Gandhi Maidan here, Konwar dwelt on various remarkable measures taken by the state government in the fields of agriculture, irrigation, energy, education, health and environment. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

BMC time-frames could cut bribes

MUMBAI: Municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar on Tuesday finalized guidelines for time-bound approval of building plans and fixing responsibility in the civic hierarchy . Officials could delay building plans for extraneous reasons by seeking irrelevant information, which forced builders to pay bribes for faster clearance.

Last year, the Practicing Engineers', Architects' and Town Planners' Association ( PEATA), the oldest and largest body representing the professionals, said it took an average 558 man days for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ( BMC) permission. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CEC sees polls as biggest source of corruption

NEW DELHI : ‘Low voter turnout a threat to India's democracy'

Elections are the biggest source of corruption in the country. When a candidate spends Rs. 5 crore to Rs.10 crore for getting elected, the first thing he does is call officials and ask them how they're going to help him recover his expenditure.

This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi here on Monday. Read more

Source : thehindu.com

‘Red tape is rampant’

The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd recently released a report, which stated that Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia . To begin with, the report needs to be looked at in perspective. It is not a comprehensive analysis but only the outcome of a survey of the opinions of 1,300 expatriate businessmen. They were asked to rate the countries on a scale of 1 to10 on six parameters namely voice and accountability; political stability and absence of violence; government effectiveness; regulatory quality; rule of law and control of corruption. If India scored 9.21 where 10 is the worst score, I can only conclude that the expatriate businessmen polled had no idea of what India is and how businesses in India — both local and foreign — are thriving. The report is, therefore, fit to be consigned to the dustbin, where I am sure it has already gone.

Having said that, it does not mean that all is well with Indian bureaucracy. Petty corruption at the lowest levels that affects the vast majority of the population, is rampant. Consider the difficulties ordinary people face in getting a ration card, driving licence, gas connections and a host of other daily essentials. Here it is the sheer volume of applications and the lack of adequate number of staff that is one major reason for the delay and consequent corruption. Read more

Source : .hindustantimes.com

CPI promises schemes for urban poor

The Communist Party of India(CPI), in its manifesto for UP Assembly polls, claimed credit for NREGS and RTI Act, saying the UPA, in its first term, brought them under pressure of the Left.

The manifesto says that UPA-I, under the pressure of the Left, on one side brought schemes like Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (also called NREGS) and enacted laws like Right to Information (RTI), on the other side, inflation remained under control and corruption could not flourish. While the UPA-II, which is supported by SP and BSP, created new records in corruption and inflation, the manifesto says. Read more

Source : expressindia.com

Health scam in UP worth over Rs 5,800 cr: CAG report

LUCKNOW : The CAG’s Performance Audit Report of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) rip-off shows a scam of Rs 5755.45 crore between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2011.

The CAG findings point that despite the State receiving the highest allocation of NRHM funds (Rs 8,657.35 crore), the health indicators were poor with maternal mortality rate being the highest and infant mortality and total fertility rates being second highest compared to eight major populous States of the country. Read more

Source : dailypioneer.com

CNRI for informants’ cadre to tackle black money

Pune: A novel initiative to deal with the scourge of black money has been suggested by the Confederation of NGOs in Rural India (CNRI), urging the Government to create a cadre of social workers who would work as informants to intimate the authorities about those in possession of unaccounted or black money.

"Government should announce that a cadre of social workers (informants) will be created all over the country and they will intimate the Government after 31/03/2012, if anybody is in possession of unaccounted or black money. Such informants will be treated as social workers and will be paid 10 per cent of the amount disclosed by the defaulters", Mohan Dharia, former Commerce Minister and Chairman of CNRI , has petitioned to Union Finance Minister in a note submitted for pre-budget consideration for 2012-13. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Centre plans audits to keep a tab on proper use of NRHM funds

BANGALORE : In the wake of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam that surfaced in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre was planning to conduct regular audits across the country to check whether the NRHM funds were properly utilised, said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 16 convocation of NIMHANS held in the city, the Minister said it was necessary to have such audits in future to check if the allocations under the NRHM were actually utilised to set up infrastructure and deploy human resources. Read more

Source : thehindu.com

BBMP ignorant about finances

BANGALORE: Cash-strapped Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) might have received national award for financial sustainability recently at a national conference of JnNURM in New Delhi, but in reality BBMP does not have count on where the money comes and goes. Not just that, BBMP does not have any idea on the number of projects taken up by different agencies.

Hanumanthnagar Councillor Chandrashekar, who raised the issue in Council meeting on Thursday, alleged that during the 2009-10 administration period, there was irregularity of funds to the tune of `483 crore. The BBMP had given various works to Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL) under 4 (g) without floating tenders. He had alleged that tenders have been called to the works which had been completed under emergency work taken up in the previous years. Further, he had alleged that works were taken without any permission from the government. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

Contractors still not paid,projects unfinished : CAG

NEW DELHI : The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report related to Commonwealth Games 2010 says over Rs 623.17 crore has not been paid to contractors till date and also points to unfinished projects.

The CAG report on Commonwealth Games 2010 tabled in the House on Friday highlighted deficiencies in execution of several projects and grant of approvals by Government at different stages was the reason of increased costs and delays of the projects. Read more

Source : dailypioneer.com

'Purna dam could have cost 180cr less'

NAGPUR: The Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation's (VIDC) hurry to award the contract for building a barrage on Purna river in Akola district will cost the government Rs 180 crore more. The amount that could have been saved is now contractors' gain.

By the time Central Water Commission (CWC) came up with suggestions on curtailing expenditure, the very structures which could have kept the cost low were already built and now the VIDC would have to go-ahead with the plan that needs a higher expenditure. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Next stage: Reforms must now move to states

Two (not unrelated) issues made 2011 special. Answers to both will mark developments in 2012 and beyond. One was the unprecedented urban response to Anna Hazare's call for legislation to end corruption. The second, an impassioned signed plea by senior industrialists to take economic reforms forward. The response to Anna was unprecedented as it showed that mass mobilisation was possible without bribing crowds (as is usual in most political rallies). 

The response to Anna was largely due to his call in August that he was not 'like one of them', namely, the politicians. The tepid response to the same movement last month was because by targeting the Congress in forthcoming elections, he now seemed 'like one of them'. How Anna resolves this paradox will determine the future of his movement. Now that the BJP in particular has internalised the corruption issue (and many states have responded with suitable institutions), Anna will have to differentiate his product from their's. But this article is about the second issue. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Sharks grab 2,800 acres of B’lore land

Bangalore : As many as 428 cases of concocted land grant files were unearthed by the Revenue Dept 

An internal drive by the Revenue Department to check the authenticity of land grant instances in and around Bangalore has revealed that land sharks have grabbed 2,804 acres of government prime land worth more than Rs 5,000 crore in the real estate market, by creating fake documents.

The exercise was taken up in September last, following suspicion raised by the Task Force for Protection of Government Lands headed by former additional chief secretary V Balasubramanian that thousands of acres of government land in Bangalore (Urban) had been encroached upon using bogus documents. Read more

Source : deccanherald.com

IIPM Think Tank Prasoon S Majumdar on 'RIGHT TO HOUSING'

New Delhi, India -- (SBWIRE) -- Fulfilling the basic housing need of hundreds of thousands of Indian citizens still seems to be a distant dream. In the backdrop of ultra-luxury homes and high lifestyle living, India, unfortunately, still has 85-90 million people who have nothing that qualify as housing. A report by the 11th five year plan working group states that India suffers with housing shortage of 140 lakh units. We, as a nation, still have not been able to provide decent housing to more than half of the population thus robbing an opportunity of proper growth and decent living environment. 

Many nations have ‘right to adequate housing’ in their constitution but ironically India doesn’t define it as a fundamental right and is only interpreted under Article 21 of the Constitution that guarantees protection of life and personal property. Rajasthan is the only state which has policies that clearly affirms the right to housing as a basic human right. At the national policy level, we still lack comprehensive policies towards right to housing and none of the newly laid plans are holistic in nature. Moreover, the programs such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (NUHHP) and various other state housing policies are littered with corruption and red-tapism. Read more

Source : sbwire.com

The poverty of innovation

A knowledge economy like ours has to understand the new knowledge society that civil society is seeking to create

One of the ironic things about the new year is that we actually think it is new. We expect new thoughts, new models and new rituals and all we get is the re-treading of old ideas. Last few days saw the celebration of a whole series of events around innovation. There was the venerable Indian Science Congress celebrating its 99th session. I want to look at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech as a part of the landscape of current thought. Read more

Source : asianage.com

Orissa: Judges' children got 'quota' flats

Bhubaneswar: A Cobrapost-IBN Network investigation had in November 2011 revealed how judges, IPS officers and bureaucrats from Orissa received plots, meant for the economically disadvantaged, war widows and people with special needs, through the discretionary quota of ministers.

A follow up to that investigation has now shown how it is not just judges, but their children as well who have benefited from the quota. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

MP among fast developing States, says Shivraj

Bhopal : Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that Madhya Pradesh is among three-four major fast developing States of the country at present. The growth rate is 10.6 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and agriculture growth rate is about 10 per cent.

He was speaking at the State-level Bhamashah Award Ceremony here on Tuesday. Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi was the chief guest of the function. Finance and Commercial Taxes Minister Raghavji, Forest Minister Sartaj Singh, State Planning Board vice-chairman Babulal Jain, former Chief Minister Kailash Joshi and former Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot were also present on the occasion. Read more

Source : dailypioneer.com

Growing corruption in India

India’s government faced fierce criticism by the media and the opposition on December 30, 2011, after it failed to push through its flagship anti-corruption law in the upper house of parliament. In this regard, the Indian Express daily said that the ruling coalition had “egg on its face”, while the Mail Today indicated that the law was now “in cold storage.” 

Recently, the opposition accused the government of orchestrating the disruption in a cynical ploy to have the house adjourned and avoid a vote it looked set to lose. Even the minority parties in the ruling coalition led by the Congress party of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which had demanded amendments to the law, called it a ‘shameful’ day for democracy and a result of orchestrated chaos—meaning the law would have almost certainly failed to pass. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) repeated its call for Singh to resign and urged the government to hold fresh elections. Read more

Source : kashmirwatch.com

MGP attacks govt, flays JNNURM project

PANAJI: Firing the first salvo at the Congress-led government in the run-up to the assembly elections, its current alliance partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has slammed the government project of 24x7 water supply to Panaji through a 70-crore JNNRUM sanction terming it as "fooling the people."

Even as MGP is currently in talks with the BJP for a pre-poll alliance, transport minister and MGP MLA Ramkrishna 'Sudin' Dhavalikar called the project a "scam", adding that the " 70-crore scam will later escalate to 150-crore scam". Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Corruption is why they win

If 650 million Indians squat in the open because they don't have access to toilets and more than 250 million people are forced to drink filthy water, it's not a coincidence. If more than 1,000 people die in accidents on India's roads every day and almost the same number falls to TB on a daily basis, it can't be blamed on fate. If India has the largest number of poor, hungry, mentally-ill and suicidal people in the world, it's not destiny. It's something the ruling class hasn't tried too hard to change, almost as if they chose to keep the country trapped in bondage. If corruption has become a part of our DNA, it's because they - the politicians and bureaucrats - have made it systemic. Corruption keeps them going as they win again and again while others fight over scraps in the streets. 

In 2005 flick Syriana, a Texan oilman defines corruption as "government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations" . That's probably not true even in America anymore. In India, corruption is government's intrusion into people's lives because of lack of regulations. For the Indian politician, corruption gives an opportunity to play the saviour - mai-baap to the people - as institutions are made to rot and crumble. Again, it's a choice. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Babus bend rules to grab a plot or two

CHENNAI: It was not just top police officers who allegedly benefited from the Tamil Nadu Housing Board housing allotments, but also IAS officers who had availed of the government discretionary quota for the second or third time under the ‘Own Your House’ Nerkundram Housing Scheme, which came into being during the DMK regime.

Among those include Higher Education Secretary R Kannan, who owns two plots in Phase XV of Hosur, Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise Malik Feroze Khan, who owns a High Income Group (HIG) house in Sholingnalur and a Middle Income Group (MIG) house in Nolambur, Joint Secretary of Public Department Mythili K Rajendran, who owns a MIG house in Vellakinaru, and Additional Secretary, Union Environment and Forests Ministry M F Farooqui, who sold out the plot in Anna Nagar 10 years ago as it was in a low-lying area. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

The world in our hands

With the dominance of Europe and America ending, the face of the world is changing rapidly in the 21st century.

We are heading towards a tri-polar world, where large emerging nations such as India and China can play a decisive role in shaping the future world. In this regard, can our youth be catalysts of change, taking India to the next stage of development?

Indeed, the power of youth is invigorating, capable of propelling a revolution, transforming even a traditional society. In 2009, Wael Ghonim was a young Google executive I had known, in the business circle of Dubai. Now, as per Time magazine, Wael Ghonim is one of the top 100 influencing leaders of 2011. Rising like a phoenix, Wael led the recent Egyptian revolution demonstrating the indomitable combination of youth and social media. It was Wael’s Facebook page that drew the country’s youth to the centre-stage of the Egyptian revolution ushering in a new era of hope. Read more

Source : deccanherald.com

Just one application can convert your land to agriculture land

Ahmedabad : Soon, you will just have to submit an application for converting agriculture land to non-agriculture (NA). The Ahmedabad district collectorate plans to implement a system in which all land records and land-related documents from various government agencies will be procured by the collectorate and not the applicant. A time period will also be fixed for entry of revised details into land ownership documents. These two decisions aim at speeding the process and checking corruption.

A land owner needs to obtain various land ownership documents form 7/12 and form 6 describing the ownership of land and change in ownership of land from time to time, along with other documents, from municipal corporation or urban development authority. “Delay on part of agencies in releasing documents leads to doubts related to corruption. We want to plug the loopholes in the system,” said Vijay Nehra, district collector, Ahmedabad. Read more

Source : dnaindia.com