Inflation

The UPA government has come out with various methods to curb inflation but they are not able to do so... Infact, though many may disagree, the issue of inflation is of far greater importance to the general public than the issue of corruption and is something that will haunt the government which is in troubled waters to a far greater degree...

Ashok Malik, is of the opinion that it is more important to enhance our innovation than just monetary control to tackle this issue...

Only inflation, not money control can combat food inflation

The republic's tree of life

"President Pratibha Patil might have meant well by using her Republic Day address to warn reformers not to shake the tree of state so hard in their drive to remove bad fruit that the tree itself is brought down but behind her arboreal metaphor lie contentious assumptions and unacceptable insinuations about the civil society movement against corruption. "

More than as a word of caution, her remarks seem intended to discredit the civil society movement against corruption. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : The republic's tree of life: Actually, "negativity" and "rejection", the states of mind President Patil warns the country against, are words that best describe the attitude and response-mechanism of the UPA government at the Centre.

If the Indian Republic is to flourish and prosper, the tree the President spoke about cannot be left to the mercy of politicians alone.

Wages of justice

"By filing a Special Leave Petition against the Karnataka High Court order directing payment of statutory minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the UPA government has betrayed its insensitivity to the rights of the poor.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Wages of justice: The courts have ruled that payment below minimum wage amounts to “forced labour”, which is constitutionally prohibited. The Centre's implacable stand that workers employed under the scheme are not entitled to anything higher than the Rs.100 ceiling fixed by it smacks of perversity."

The great leap backward

"In six months, we have gone from a plausible model for the Lokpal to one that lacks the teeth needed to fight corruption at the highest levels."

Unfortunately, the new Lokpal-Lokayukta Bill of the government is a great leap backward. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : The great leap backward.

The Bill is retrograde on the relationship between the Lokpal and the CBI. Investigation is the foundation of any case, and its independence makes all the difference. There is no shortage of critical comment by the Supreme Court about the CBI being under the umbrella of the executive. The portions of the Bill relating to investigation are counter productive.

The inclusion of Lokayuktas in the Bill is said to violate the federal principle. This claim can be trumped by Article 253, which says that where Parliament makes a law to implement an international treaty, such law will hold good even if it transgresses the federal division. The Lokpal-Lokayukta Act is expressly made in pursuance of the UN Convention on Corruption, which India ratified. One wonders whether the objectors are acting from lofty constitutional principles or simply resisting tough anti-corruption bodies in their respective States.

Another concern is skewed composition of the Selection Committee and 50% reservation. What is the rationale between corruption and caste, gender or religion? And why bring NGOs under scrutiny when action can be taken against them under other statutes? Will this not dissipate the resources of the Lokpal?

Civil society should put down the non-negotiable demand of a tough and fully empowered Lokpal with full control over investigation and prosecution of the top-rung of governance, and for one Act to operate nationally. The fundamental adage in negotiation is that the best is the enemy of the good — an insistence on all or nothing usually results in getting the latter.