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Tag Archives: corruption

Missing Links in India's "Fast-Track" Approach

Missing Links in India's "Fast-Track" Approach

Much has been written and discussed about the recent ‘civil society’ protests against corruption in India. Social activist Anna Hazare’s four day fast in April compelled the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to re-consider the Lokpal Bill through a joint committee involving ministers and members of civil society. Yoga guru, christened as ‘Baba’ Ramdev, launched his […]

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P. Sainath on 'Paid News' in India

P. Sainath on 'Paid News' in India

Palagummi Sainath a renowned journalist and rural affairs editor of The Hindu delivered the First Maharaj Kaul Memorial Lecture at University of Berkeley, California on April 11. Sainath has written extensively on farmer suicide and paid news, issues that have not been widely reported in the mainstream Indian media. At Berkeley, Sainath choose to speak […]

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Anna Hazare's Initiative: People's Movement in a Constitutional Democracy?

Anna Hazare's Initiative: People's Movement in a Constitutional Democracy?

It is important to keep Gandhi untarnished. The Gandhian can be negotiated with. Two developments in India during the past week convinced me of the above approach in Indian politics. American journalist Joseph Lelyveld’s book The Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India created furore in the country. The book has been banned […]

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Has Manmohan Lost His Mojo?

Has Manmohan Lost His Mojo?

Just a few months ago, Manmohan Singh was being lauded by world statesmen and the international media as the very model of political leadership. Nowadays, increasingly beleaguered, he’s reduced to denying that he’s a lame duck or intends to resign from office.

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Egypt's Criminal Status Quo: Street Says "Show Me the Money"

Egypt's Criminal Status Quo: Street Says "Show Me the Money"

The chaos in Egypt does indeed signal opportunity, but the big question is whether the Egyptian people (or their fellow protestors in neighboring countries) will end up with genuine reform or merely a different gang of corrupt officials willing to cut more (or different) people in on ‘the take.’

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How serious the crime?

The return of former president Jean-Claude Duvalier was a shock to Haiti, both in terms of surprise as well as the frisson that it sent through much of the population. Associated by some with a time of stability, “Baby Doc” Duvalier was more commonly known for the brutal legacy he continued in his father’s footsteps. […]

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A Jasmine Revolution for Tunisia?

A Jasmine Revolution for Tunisia?

    What a difference a few days make. Since writing my post on the demonstrations in Tunisia on Wednesday, President Ben Ali went from claiming that only terrorists and fanatics were protesting to announcing that he would not run for re-election when his current term expires in 2014. He also assured the population that […]

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Corruption takes down another leader

This week, the president of Tunisia, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country amid massive demonstrations against his administration’s authoritarianism and corruption. It was a success for those who believe that corruption should not be tolerated and corrupt officials should be driven from power. While the protests began after a single jobless youth set himself […]

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The Latin Americanization of India?

The Latin Americanization of India?

Rather than cast India’s super wealthy as this era’s robber barons or malefactors of great wealth, a more salutary response to renewed concerns about concentrated wealth and influence would be to enact deeper reforms of the Indian state.

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What Wikileaks has to say about corruption

What Wikileaks has to say about corruption

The latest Wikileaks revelations are too extensive for any single person to have yet sifted through, and they pertain to so many aspects of foreign policy that it is difficult to know where to focus. Here are some of the highlights related to corruption. In the category of “I knew just as much simply by […]

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Niira Radia Tapes and the Question of Journalistic Ethics

Niira Radia Tapes and the Question of Journalistic Ethics

“The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable […]

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Some Good News about Public Governance

Some Good News about Public Governance

Amid a spate of corruption scandals in India, glimmers of political change may have shone forth last week from what until a few years ago was the most unlikeliest of places.

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Government-civil society coop(era)tion

This month was the biannual International Anti-Corruption Conference, which took place this year in Bangkok. The conference is an opportunity for a large portion of the world’s people who are thinking about corruption to get together, share ideas, learn what’s new, and of course schmooze (a bit). The theme of the conference this year was […]

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India's Illicit Financial Woes

India's Illicit Financial Woes

The timing could not have been more perfect. A new report by Global Financial Integrity about Illicit Financial Flows from India comes as the perfect topping on the 2G spectrum scam, the Adarsh Housing Scam and the Commonwealth Games. According to the report, India lost approximately $213 billion in illicit financial flows from the country […]

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The Corruption Perceptions Index: spotlight on Morocco

This past Tuesday marked the annual release of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Transparency International’s opportunity to name and shame all over the world. This year, as in most years, there were few surprises: the index is actually designed to favor stability over dramatic changes in order not to unduly punish countries that experience an […]

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