South Asia Citizens Web

In a clever paper posted on the finance ministry’s website, Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser, has argued that the act of bribing should be made legal. Strictly speaking, the argument applies only to what Basu calls “harassment bribes”, that is bribes that people give in order to get something they are entitled to, like a passport or a ration card. How the legal system is supposed to distinguish between harassment bribes and other bribes is not discussed. But let us leave that aside and focus on harassment bribes.

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) invitation to a party has met with more jeers than cheers. Not many Muslims, it appears, are keen on singing Happy Birthday to the new-born named Welfare Party of India. The Muslim advocates’ meet in Mumbai on a Friday (April 22) saw the enthusiastic participation of around 300 advocates from all over Maharashtra. The stars of the show were two retired Muslim judges from the Mumbai high court: Justice Bilal Nakzi and Justice Shafi Parkar. But outside the venue the reception was mixed.

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) welcomes the Government of India’s announcement on 26th instant that a bill as regards the formation of an "independent and autonomous Nuclear Regulatory Authority of India that would subsume the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)" will be introduced in the forthcoming monsoon session of the parliament. The formation of such an authority is in fact a longstanding demand of the CNDP.

The term ‘civil society’ is so vague and ambiguous as to allow virtually any group with any kind of political agenda to appropriate it and to tell the public that it is speaking on its behalf.

Two human rights and legal aids organisations yesterday served a legal notice on the home secretary and police authorities asking them to inform the grounds of a ban imposed on men and women sitting together near a city lake.