If 34 per cent of current parliamentarians have family ties and all those under 30 years are hereditary MPs, the concern over women alone leveraging family connections in politics seems misplaced. As the Women's Reservation Bill awaits yet another round of consideration, Ammu Joseph wonders if women politicians can and do make a difference.

On World Radio Day, Ammu Joseph looks at the representation of women in Indian radio and wonders if the medium can play a more significant role in ensuring empowerment and equal participation.

There is a dichotomy between the normative, rational principles enshrined in the law and the actual practice of public morality. We can overcome this only if we co-locate physically and mentally with fellow citizens, says Rajesh Kasturirangan.

We should profitably contrast the flexible chaos of our institutions with the iron order of the west. The management of diversity requires a sensible mix of order and chaos, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The decline of politics and of intellectual discourse is related to the struggle between politics and economics as the arbiter of the moral commons and the role of the developmental state in this fight, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

We need a new mechanism for creating trust, a mechanism that is neither traditional nor institutional. Post-institutional technology holds more hope than rule-based institutions, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Instead of imposing top-down controls on behaviour from the Supreme Court downward, would a better solution to our problems be to shift norms from the family outward, asks Rajesh Kasturirangan.

A number of barbs have been flung at Anna Hazare and the India Against Corruption campaign, amidst the rising popularity of the effort. Are these justified, wonders Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests is looking away from even the minimal standards of environmental stewardship needed in modern times, asserted citizens and experts in open letter to the government recently. Ashish Kothari and Kanchi Kohli were two of the signatories.

It is clear that people across the country are driven by strong environment values. Therefore, without having a policy process that channelises their perceptions and crystallises them in policy statements, it is not possible to sequence and prioritise our environmental problems, says Videh Upadhyay.

After scathing comments from two consecutive CAG reports, the Gujarat government faces mounting questions related to systematic pilferage of earthquake reconstruction funds, reports Himanshu Upadhyaya.

By framing the debate as one of protecting the 'autonomy' of PSUs from 'microcontrol by government', some pink papers are trying to confuse readers into thinking that CAG audit is a governmental intervention, which it is not. The CAG's role is constitutionally enshrined for ensuring accountability of PSUs, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Public audit of an organisation or individual by a statutory authority is proven to give teeth to enforcement. Why then has India's CAG failed to instill fear in the various government departments and enterprises it monitors? A new book by B P Mathur tackles this and more, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Why does the government not allocate funds to meet all the rights that are protected under the law? Partly, this is because allocations in the Budget each year are made mechanically, without any thought the need for funds, or the rights that ought to be protected, says Videh Upadhyay.

The CERC is mandated with balancing the interests of power generation companies and their consumers. But it appears that its new regulations are heavily skewed against the latter. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

The States of India account for about 55 per cent of the combined expenditure of the Union and the States, but the Centre now collects two-thirds of the combined tax revenues. Kannan Kasturi details this imbalance.

Findings from the CAG's audit of India's flagship nutrition programme show that hunger and malnourishment among children prevail even in the most prosperous of India's states. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the disturbing findings of the ICDS audit.

Inadequate training, shortfall in personnel, weak monitoring systems and unconvincing responses from the government to the CAG.s objections regarding the same reveal the flaws in implementation of the NREGS scheme in Uttar Pradesh. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

The flouting of scheme guidelines in the NREGS implementation in Uttar Pradesh shows how the programme is still locked in top-down planning. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the various findings of the performance audit of the scheme.

Is brazen unaccountability a national disease in our country, asks Himanshu Upadhyaya as he reads through yet another performance review by the CAG of India, this time of its own performance in carrying out auditing functions.

A recent study from the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy shows that Indian cities rest on a weak systemic foundation. Madhavi Rajadhyaksha highlights the key findings from the study to argue for a systemic overhaul of urban India.

The smart-card driven CORE-PDS system demonstrates the feasibility of introducing portability in social security systems without the use of biometrics. A student team from IIT Delhi surveys Fair Price Shops in Raipur district following the new system to assess how it has been faring.

Media reports following the two-day Accountants’ General conference have focused largely on the observations and advice on CAG audits by the Finance Minister and the PAC chairman. Himanshu Upadhyaya wonders if such a meet cannot be evolved into a more citizen-focused and constructive exercise.

The report of a high level committee under BJP MP Shanta Kumar proposes radical restructuring of the PDS and reduced coverage of the food security act. But is the estimate of leakages in the report flawed in itself? Shambhu Ghatak presents alternative findings.

A report published by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) on the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), its auditing and reporting process falls short in many aspects, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

It is only by looking back at its own history of audit findings that the constitutional auditor can draw attention to policy decisions that were flawed at the very beginning, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.

When this social communication event hit Kolkata in 2002, the entire ambience spilled over with empathy and a deep understanding for films – documentary, fiction and docu-fiction – made on or about the marginalised and the oppressed. Very little of all that was in the air during the 2007 version, writes Shoma Chatterji.

The Shillong Chamber Choir follows Neil Nongkynrih, a concert pianist, as he strives to find a balance between his music and the purpose of his life: to look after under-privileged children. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Celluloid Man pays a moving tribute to P.K. Nair, a man whose passion and commitment has kept alive the history of Indian cinema for film lovers, even as it exposes the tragic indifference of the establishment towards Nair, and archiving in general. Shoma A. Chatterji reviews the film.

The premature demise of acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, who passed away on May 30, has robbed Indian cinema of a rare combination of courage and sensitivity and perhaps, of many more masterpieces to come. Shoma A. Chatterji reminisces his works in this tribute to his genius.

Filmmaker Q's reinterpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's Tasher Desh is a bold experiment, not only in format but also content, as it seeks to layer the classic satire with unprecedented connotations of sexuality and gender issues. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

In Chhatisgarh's Durg district, there is no shortage of farmers who have taken their lives - the district ranks second in the state on this count. But equally, there is no shortage of those who don't see these suicides. Shubhranshu Choudhary reports.

Having failed to meet the challenges of the post-green revolution era, agricultural research has reached a dead end, says Devinder Sharma.

Five years ago, the United Nations set a goal to drastically reduce hunger and poverty in the world by 2015. This September, the UN met at New York with over 850 million people going hungry everyday. To target hunger, an international consultation in April at Chennai had recommended a new approach to the UN, reports Ramesh Menon.

Much of the agrarian crisis is the result of unwanted and cost-intensive technologies that have been forced on the farmers. Scientists were unknowingly trying to promote the commercial interests of the seed, tractor and the pesticides industry. And we don't need to repeat this error, says Devinder Sharma.

Despite abundant evidence that the PDS has failed to ward off starvation, the Centre proposes a new plan that shows none of the wisdom of this experience. Kanchi Kohli reports on an alternative grounded in local production, storage and distribution, which does a much better job of fighting hunger.

Any social scientist would give an arm and a leg to coin one new concept. M N Srinivas invented three such, with each resonating widely among the intellectual community, writes Ramachandra Guha

Our deities can't be bullied into becoming soulless robotic creatures that yield to every new wave of political fashion. Madhu Purnima Kishwar wants protection from the new missionaries of uniformity.

As parties firm up their candidates in various constituencies, several celebrity names - new and old - are doing the rounds yet again. Shoma Chatterji looks at a few examples from the years gone by to question what we may really expect from these star-turned-politicians.

Boregaon is a small village in Solapur district of Maharashtra where men have shunned the patriarchal mindset to support women’s political empowerment and gender equality, writes Suchismita Pai.

Naam Poribortito, the debut film of activist Mitali Biswas, reveals the dark and gory underbelly of West Bengal in particular, and the nation at large, where rape victims are denied justice and crusaders are silenced more often than not. Shoma Chatterji has more on the film and its portrayals.

Girish Karnad's clear-eyed, unsentimental and even self-deprecatory view of the city seems rare in the Indian narrative imagination, which continues to nurse the notion of ‘the village innocent’ vs ‘the city corrupt’.

An India Together radio program featuring Professor Jagdeep Chhokar of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad on the new anti-criminalization rules for India's elections.

The entire weight of technical opinion has been to proceed with caution on the Interlinking of Rivers. An extract of Jairam Ramesh's speech in the Rajya Sabha debate on the working of Ministry of Water Resources on 20 April 2005.

The environmental benefits accruing from green buildings and living spaces are widely known, but it is often inertia that prevents the adoption of these alternatives. Chandrashekar Hariharan discusses a few easy steps that could foster greener urban infrastructure.

Lijjat Papad does not turn its women into millionaires, but its the realization of dignified self-employment that is its success, says Arun Srivastav.

World Bank funding of development projects in Andhra Pradesh is criticized by rights activists in the state who argue that conditions for the poor are worsening.

Hyderabad has been seeing a spurt in construction activity whose benefits are not exactly trickling down to daily wage workers. Safia Sircar finds out why.

infraSys, a development-driven enterprise that creates physical, financial, and knowledge infrastructure in rural areas.

The April 2005 deadline for a nationwide Value Added Tax regime is only months away. But what exactly is on the cards, and what will it achieve? Dinkar Ayilavarapu considers the rationale for the shift, and finds that many of the goals have been whittled away already.