SEARCH RESULT

India is in mourning. One of her daughters, a promising 23-year old physiotherapy student, was the victim of a brutal gang rape in South Delhi in the night of December 16, 2012 and succumbed to her injuries two weeks later. She was aptly named Nirbhaya –the fearless- by the media in view of her valiant resistance to the crazed perverts who had assaulted her and the indomitable spirit shown by her in the face of death. The incident aroused the national conscience like no other crime in the ...

Mr T S Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, eminent panellists, Mr Vikram Lal, President of Common Cause, members of the Governing Council, leaders of civil society, academia and media, veterans of public services, ladies and gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to extend a hearty welcome to you to our final offering of a series of three seminars on key aspects of governance reforms. Borrowing Mr Jagmohan’s phraseology, I may say that while the first two focuse...

More than seventeen years ago, Common Cause decided to take the Union of India to court for its unfulfilled promises to enact a law to establish the institution of Lokpal for combating corruption by public servants. As the matter dragged on in the Supreme Court of India, due partly to procedural complexities but largely to dilatory tactics and deliberate misrepresentation by the government, Common Cause took the initiative of holding a broad-based consultation to delineate the essential features...

More than seventeen years ago, Common Cause decided to take the Union of India to court for its unfulfilled promises to enact a law to establish the institution of Lokpal for combating corruption by public servants. As the matter dragged on in the Supreme Court of India, due partly to procedural complexities but largely to dilatory tactics and deliberate misrepresentation by the government, Common Cause took the initiative of holding a broad-based consultation to delineate the essential features...

A succession of scandals involving members of the higher judiciary in the recent past has ensured that the issue of judicial accountability remains in public focus. These cases have served to underline the inefficacy of the mechanisms for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and sanctioning judicial misconduct, instances of which are being brought to light all too frequently by campaigners for judicial reforms and a vigilant media. The unexceptionable principle of ...

Common Cause has had an abiding interest in the theory and practice of local self government. It has been our firm conviction that given its continental dimensions and diversities our democratic polity will be able to achieve its full potential only when local communities are adequately empowered and given the means to take charge of their destinies. In the year 2007, after an exhaustive study of actualization of the framework of democratic decentralization, which had been incorporated in the...

Common Cause has had an abiding interest in the theory and practice of local self government. It has been our firm conviction that given its continental dimensions and diversities our democratic polity will be able to achieve its full potential only when local communities are adequately empowered and given the means to take charge of their destinies. In the year 2007, after an exhaustive study of actualization of the framework of democratic decentralization, which had been incorporated in the...

Inaugural session Welcome Address: Mr. Kamal Kant Jaswal, Director, Common Cause Shri Kishore Chandra Deo, Hon’ble Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs, Prof. K. C. Sivararmakrishnan, Chairman, Centre for Policy Research, Dr. George Mathew, Chairman, Institute of Social Sciences, Smt. Loretta Vas, Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, members of the Governing Council of Common Cause, eminent chairs of sessions and distinguished panelists, l...

The vast majority of India’s labour force of nearly four hundred eighty million is employed in the informal sector, which is characterised by insecurity of employment, poor working conditions and absence of social security. This is where the self-employed, such as small farmers and entrepreneurs, artisans, street vendors and rickshaw pullers, are clubbed together with wage workers in farms, unorganized enterprises and households. The formal, organized sector, which includes the state and i...

The vast majority of India’s labour force of nearly four hundred eighty million is employed in the informal sector, which is characterised by insecurity of employment, poor working conditions and absence of social security. This is where the self-employed, such as small farmers and entrepreneurs, artisans, street vendors and rickshaw pullers, are clubbed together with wage workers in farms, unorganized enterprises and households. The formal, organized sector, which includes the state and i...