Above the fold: Top stories of the day
1. Paris hunts down suspected attackers. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, alleged mastermind of Firday's attacks, may be dead.
2. The 7th pay commission has proposed a 22% hike for Central government employees.
3. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley invites Rahul Gandhi to his daughter's wedding, triggering speculation that the government is courting the Opposition in over the goods and services tax bill ahead of the winter session of Parliament.
The Big Story: The AAP scores
The Delhi cabinet has passed the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, 2015. Apart from a few tweaks, it is essentially the same bill that the Aam Aadmi Party government had tried to protect when it resigned in 2014. The bill sets up an independent authority to investigate offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, and also covers the chief minister's office. It ensures time-bound investigations and recommends that trials be completed in six months. Like the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill, it gives the lokayukta the power to conduct searches, prescribe suitable punishments and protect whistleblowers. "The Jan Lokpal Bill that we started our movement for has been passed by the Delhi government's cabinet," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.
In the past, the AAP has presented the Jan Lokpal Bill as the panacea to corruption in the country. Yet critics of the bill have pointed out that it will only set up an extra-constitutional body with powers of oversight over the length and breadth of government machinery. They believe the lokayukta's wide-ranging powers to probe and punish without accountability are dangerously anti-democratic. Many have also argued that governments both at the Centre and the state have adequate mechanisms to crack down on corruption, but they are not implemented. It is naive to believe that this new institution will not suffer the same problems of implementation. Going ahead, the AAP government will have to come up with convincing answers to these objections.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been looking a bit ragged over the last year, with rifts among its senior leadership, charges of corruption against its ministers and what appeared to be the fraying of internal democracy. So for the time being, the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill could prove to be the political victory that the party so badly needed.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
An open letter from Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi to Arvind Kejriwal, urging him not to dash the hopes for idealism and an honest India.
Politicking and policying
1. The culture ministry has recommended Padma awards for cooking.
2. West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, an accused in the Saradha scam, is forced to step down.
3. "Accidental" firing was reported outside the prime minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road.
4.Bangladesh promises to crack down on North East rebel camps in its territory.
Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Monalisa Chankija explains why her newspaper protested against the Assam Rifles with a blank editorial.
2. In the Hindu, Rakesh Sood argues that countries need better policies to respond to terror.
3. Ajoy Bose in the Economic Times explains why Mayawati may reap the biggest electoral gains from the Bihar election verdict.
Don't miss...
Girish Shahane on why mourning should never be a matter of numbers:
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1. Paris hunts down suspected attackers. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, alleged mastermind of Firday's attacks, may be dead.
2. The 7th pay commission has proposed a 22% hike for Central government employees.
3. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley invites Rahul Gandhi to his daughter's wedding, triggering speculation that the government is courting the Opposition in over the goods and services tax bill ahead of the winter session of Parliament.
The Big Story: The AAP scores
The Delhi cabinet has passed the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, 2015. Apart from a few tweaks, it is essentially the same bill that the Aam Aadmi Party government had tried to protect when it resigned in 2014. The bill sets up an independent authority to investigate offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, and also covers the chief minister's office. It ensures time-bound investigations and recommends that trials be completed in six months. Like the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill, it gives the lokayukta the power to conduct searches, prescribe suitable punishments and protect whistleblowers. "The Jan Lokpal Bill that we started our movement for has been passed by the Delhi government's cabinet," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.
In the past, the AAP has presented the Jan Lokpal Bill as the panacea to corruption in the country. Yet critics of the bill have pointed out that it will only set up an extra-constitutional body with powers of oversight over the length and breadth of government machinery. They believe the lokayukta's wide-ranging powers to probe and punish without accountability are dangerously anti-democratic. Many have also argued that governments both at the Centre and the state have adequate mechanisms to crack down on corruption, but they are not implemented. It is naive to believe that this new institution will not suffer the same problems of implementation. Going ahead, the AAP government will have to come up with convincing answers to these objections.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been looking a bit ragged over the last year, with rifts among its senior leadership, charges of corruption against its ministers and what appeared to be the fraying of internal democracy. So for the time being, the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill could prove to be the political victory that the party so badly needed.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
An open letter from Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi to Arvind Kejriwal, urging him not to dash the hopes for idealism and an honest India.
Politicking and policying
1. The culture ministry has recommended Padma awards for cooking.
2. West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra, an accused in the Saradha scam, is forced to step down.
3. "Accidental" firing was reported outside the prime minister's residence at 7 Race Course Road.
4.Bangladesh promises to crack down on North East rebel camps in its territory.
Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Monalisa Chankija explains why her newspaper protested against the Assam Rifles with a blank editorial.
2. In the Hindu, Rakesh Sood argues that countries need better policies to respond to terror.
3. Ajoy Bose in the Economic Times explains why Mayawati may reap the biggest electoral gains from the Bihar election verdict.
Don't miss...
Girish Shahane on why mourning should never be a matter of numbers:
"If I share some of the grief of the mourners who have gathered daily in the Place de la République following the terrorist outrage of last week, it isn’t only because of the innocent lives lost but also because of what else is threatened. I comprehend why the response to that attack was more prominent than the reaction to similar assaults conducted by ISIS in the past week in Egypt, Ankara, and Lebanon, (the last of which was actually better covered by the mainstream press than social media critics would have us believe). Our reaction to tragedy is never merely a matter of numbers. Nobody died in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, but that does not mean the media’s extensive coverage of it was unjustified, for a similar disaster elsewhere could easily cost tens of thousands of lives. The Delhi gang-rape victim was but one among thousands, but to denigrate the anger her rape provoked is churlish. Only a single man was killed in Dadri, and yet the incident drew far more attention than dozens of murders committed on the same night."
