Abhayanand, who took over as Bihar police chief in August 2011, has been looking at some out-of-the-box ideas to curb crime, corruption and black money. In an interview with Pankaj Kumar, he explains his theory: if economic crimes are committed for sake of money, and criminals get away with it by exploiting loopholes, then the solution is in making crime unprofitable. He has fo
Why vote? It is not unusual to find this sentiment being expressed. When we use the expression `not unusual`, there is no exaggeration because even for a high voting percentage of 75, one out of every four subscribes to this line of thinking. Of the three who do vote, discounting the ones who vote on caste lines, religious overtures and patriarchal dictates there isn`t much left to be counted a
Citizens of India are losing trust in politicians, and this finding comes at a time crucial assembly elections have been announced and general elections are not far either. India is placed 115th among 148 countries on this count in the Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014. The report, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), notes that public trust in politicians has been e
In India the conventional media, especially print, is still growing well, but media futurist Gerd Leonhard has a word of caution for this sector. He says India may face the Brazilian situation tomorrow. The South American country was also witnessing the same story until last year when the middle class switched to new media such as the internet and newspapers became obsolete. The Swiss e
Two newspaper articles recently caught my attention. The first quotes the father who killed his daughter and her boyfriend in the Rohtak district of Haryana for eloping as saying, “Whatever I did was right and for honour. If others also follow the same path, such things (love marriages) won’t take place.” The other article points out that more Dalits are marrying out of caste,
If Rahul Gandhi’s gate-crashing into Congress’s own Ideas Inc department, and saying his government was wrong in trying to save convicted MPs and MLAs through an ordinance, were moves that eventually strips Lalu Prasad Yadav of his membership in Lok Sabha, Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is not making the displeasure public as yet. Call it political co
RK Dubey took over as Canara Bank chairman early this year bang in the middle of a slowdown. But a few months into his stewardship, his bank made bold to drop its lending rate to 9.95% because of “better efficiencies” while others hung on to rates of 10% and 10.25%. In this interview with B V Rao and Imran Qureshi, he talks about the challenges befo
Everything was going all right with the world, a nation breathing in the supreme court’s verdict on a citizen’s right to reject the criminals masquerading as smiling poster boys of political parties out to do all that is good for you and at the same time hyperventilating on the need for the country’s president to reject autographing an ordinance that rejects the apex court&rsq
Can you enumerate key outcomes (from citizens` perspective) of decades of e-governance initiatives in Maharashtra? From citizens` perspective, it is convenience. They should be able to avail government services with the least number of trips to the government office without paying bribes and within a given time frame. Wh
We reproduce here a letter Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner, has written to the chairman of parliament standing committee in the matter of the proposed amendments to the RTI act. 27/09/2013 Shri Shantaram Naik, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee Sub.: RTI amendment Bill Dear Sir, The undersigned would
As India has one of the world’s highest child mortality rates, the latest UN study says that rate would have been down by three-fifths had women in the country completed secondary education. "If all women in India had completed secondary education, the under-five mortality rate would be 61 percent lower," says United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisat
Ratings agencies perform the critical function of assessing the fundamentals and future prospects of corporate houses that continuously seek to raise money from privat e investors or the public. That puts the onus on ratings agencies to get their systems of governance right, both within their own companies and the companies they assess. How do they do it? How do they ensure a rating or grading
The QS World University Rankings are out. We as a nation have drawn a blank again when it comes to the top 200 – as in previous years. That is no great news; we may reflect something like this: It is an annual feature and who knows how much of this information comes to us doctored or based on parameters that do not s
What are the roles available for the political class in times of rioting? Political leaders can be expected to instigate riots, propagate rumours, mobilise mobs, indulge in blame game, and manage post-riot relief and compensation. Are they expected to stop riots, and heal wounds? No. That would be too idealistic. When rioting is on, the mob is in such animalistic frenzy that it would be foolhar
Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan is all set to make his debut monetary policy statement on Friday. With the US Federal Reserve’s welcome announcement to continue with its bond buying stimulus package and the rupee recovering, markets are expecting the governor to withdraw some of the measures that his predecessor undertook to check the outflow of funds. Despite some s
That Miss America Nina Davuluri would not be able to become a Bollywood actress because the producer would prefer a fair girl over her due to market demands is giving the market too much credit. Too much credit for being too fair and for acting on forces outside of itself. The market does not work on an already created need, affinity or both but has mechanisms to create its own. `If you
The All India Students Association (AISA) won all four central panel seats in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union elections again this year. Besides a slight aberration last year, when the JNUSU president`s post when to the Democratic Student`s Forum (DSF), a breakaway group of the CPI(M)-affiliated Students’ Federation of India (SFI) formed that year itself, this is pretty m
Security concerns regarding online data and records are rising with each passing day, and the situation is set to stay that way in times to come. The problem is compounded by newer technologies being introduced: while on one hand may make life easier, they also make security more vulnerable. Altaf Halde, managing director (South Asia) of Kaspersky, a Russian multinational computer secur
Dr Ami Bera is a self-made man and pursued what is called the American Dream. Son of an Indian immigrant couple from Rajkot in Gujarat, Bera is the only Indian American currently serving in the Congress, and third after Dilip Singh Saund and Bobby Jindal to be from the community in the House. During the last week of August, he made his first trip to India after being elected to the House of Rep
Basel-III norms are required to be fulfilled (though voluntary) by different countries in the banking operations on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity norm. But in its new report, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has come heavily against these norms. It said that countries banking in each countries need to follow prudential rules to their speci
