When Executive Engineer S K Nagarwal reported corruption in railway track laying in West Bengal, his saga with colluding officials and contractors began. Now, supported by the S K Dubey foundation, a citizens' forum has sprung up to protect Nagarwal and other whistleblowers. Varupi Jain reports.

What does it take to make the bureaucracy responsive to the needs and expectations of citizens? A recent workshop in New Delhi on Developing Institutions for Public Accountability in Urban Services explored this question. Darryl D'Monte recounts some key observations made at the workshop.

Tamilnadu's foray into e-governance has not yet lived upto potential because policy makers may be implementing top-driven projects with little public participation. Still, the state does have its own examples of how things could work. Krithika Ramalingam reports.

In our system of criminal justice, the state takes up the responsibility to prosecute offenders on behalf of victims. Although public prosecutors are theoretically independent, in practice they face a number of improper influences. Bikram Jeet Batra surveys the prosecution system in India, and finds it in need of much change.

Two different bodies established by successive governments have made recommendations for sweeping changes to the system of representation and governance in urban areas. The opportunity is now at hand to bring these together, and ensure that wards are accessible and accountable to urban residents. Vinay Baindur reports.

An early warning by China on impending floods in the Sutlej river helped avert major loss to human lives in June. Yet, India's disaster preparedness plans have been found wanting. India still does not have reliable information from China about glacial lakes that are prone to flooding the Himalayan rivers, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.

Quick identification of the London bombers of 7/7 and early success in making an arrest testifies to an excellent investigation by Scotland Yard. In contrast, getting photographs, fingerprints and other records from government departments are far more difficult for India's police detectives, says Arvind Verma.

One month ago, on June 27, Vadodara and surrounding areas received the first monsoon rains after a 15-day delay. Citizens spent the first two days of rains in jubilation. On the third day, things went wrong. Surekha Sule assesses the recent floods that devastated one of Gujarat's leading cities.

After a lengthy process of consultation and debate, a model code for good governance is at the government's doorstep. Vinay Baindur lists its salient points, which if embraced by the Central government could go a long way towards erasing the history of poor administration in the country.

Reforms in urban governance are long overdue, and the cities are croaking under the weight of their neglect. But the National Urban Reforms Mission may be too much medicine, bypassing citizen input and consultation in a hasty drive for change. Vinay Baindur reports.

The Government of India constituted the Police Act Drafting Committee in September 2005 to draft a new Police Act. This is proposed to replace the colonial-era Police Act of 1861 that is still the governing law. The Committee's six month duration comes to an end on 31 January 2006. Arvind Verma says much is at stake.

The Police Act Drafting Committee's term came to an end on 31 January. Any significant attempt to reform the Indian police must begin with the men at the bottom, the constabulary, not at the top. However, such changes would call for a struggle against the nature of Indian society itself, says former IPS officer K S Subramanian.

There are many ideas about how change occurs. Each has some strengths and is able to influence government to some degree, for good as well as bad. I prefer advocacy of decency and an autonomy that benefits people directly over other methods, says Ashwin Mahesh.

Environmental clearances in India have always raised questions, as noted in many reports in India Together. For years now, NGOs have opposed the Ministry of Environment, sometimes bitterly. Last year, the Ministry proposed a 're-engineered' regulation, and found a new opposition - the state governments. Kanchi Kohli has more.

Both the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister recognised that rehabilitation for Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river was incomplete, but neither was willing to fulfil their legal responsibility to actually stop construction. Instead, the the Shunglu Committee is now "independently" investigating rehabilitation and it appears compromised, worries Mike Levien.

Still dodging the constitutional requirement for devolution of powers to local bodies, the Centre is now demanding that cities fall in line with the 74th Amendment. The National Urban Renewal Mission is deeply flawed, and civic groups that have proposed steps to rectify it should be heeded, writes Kathyayini Chamaraj.

Certainly, there are flaws in the National Urban Renewal Mission, and mistakes will be made as it is rolled out. But this imperfect solution still represents the collective and well-intentioned efforts of many stakeholders, and we must engage with it. Ramesh Ramanathan responds to Kathyayini Chamaraj's criticism of the Mission.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal for a North East Water Resources Authority to steer development along the Brahmaputra river basin in an integrated manner is both grand and glamorous. But how will the proposed Authority succeed where the Brahmaputra Board failed? This is still unclear, says Videh Upadhyay.

Police officers are uniform in the belief that political interference in their work is uniquitous. They also see themselves as crime fighters first and foremost, and hence view all other work as a distraction. But in fact, says Arvind Verma, there is little truth to either of these beliefs.

Held in Geneva last month, the Rotterdam Convention was attended by 500 participants from 140 governments, UN organisations, and NGOs. India sided with Canada and few other nations to prevent the listing of chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen. R Sridhar has more.

50 years from the scene of action, it can be safely said that the 28-month long EM Sankaran Namboodiripad government of April 1957 laid the foundation stones of present day Kerala. Whether the merits of the maiden government's reform attempts were consolidated in the following five decades is another story altogether, writes P N Venugopal.

The Supreme Court issued six directives in 2006 on bringing about police reforms in the states to make the police free from political interference and accountable to the citizens. Kathyayini Chamaraj analyses the state governments' responses and finds much amiss.

The government has recently announced its Resettlement and Rehabilitation policy. Even though there are some important improvements in it -- the move is timed during rising violence and resentment around the eastern region -- it appears to sidestep the tough questions. Shripad Dharmadhikary has the early verdict.

Although telecentres have caught the imagination of government, their adoption is caught in a false pedagogy that treats entitlements as services and citizens as customers who pay service charges. The focus on putting a price on governance must be stemmed, writes Vivek Vaidyanathan.

The state is by far the biggest litigant, and contributes a large part to the staggering backlog clogging the courts. The Centre, States and public sector companies determinedly appeal every adverse verdict, despite winning only a small minority of them eventually. Kannan Kasturi reports.

Are ancient structures the relics of a past that we no longer want to remember? As the 139-year-old Crawford Market in Mumbai faces the demolition squad, Darryl D'Monte looks at the pitfalls of a 'development' model that could have cities across the world sporting the same skyline.

The health, efficiency, relevance and role of our over-centralised security agencies in an ostensibly federal set up need greater debate. This is all the more important, as the politicians' approach to the nature of violence in the country lacks seriousness, writes K S Subramanian.

While successful efforts are sadly rare, a few telecentre initiatives have done good work in bridging the digital divide and have positively impacted disadvantaged communities, writes Vivek Vaidyanathan.

There is wide-spread agreement that horse trading in the political arena is immoral and undesirable, and should be illegal. But what is the actual position of law on this? Kannan Kasturi looks back at the trail so far.

Systematic and chronic under-investment in public goods such as education, law enforcement and infrastructure has already impacted our cities. And yet, we have not asked and answered a number of questions as a nation. C V Madhukar begins a new series.

These are unusual times - when even the most capitalist and free market proponents of the world see an important role for governments. But it is not a time to to look at government challenges through ideological prisms alone, writes C V Madhukar.

A permanent solution should be sought to defend ships and their crew who, refusing to be party to unscrupulous trade, end up being eliminated, with their deaths portrayed as suicides, writes Shabeena Zaheer who lost her son.

Law enforcement cannot make a distinction between 'our' goons and 'their' goons. It has to make a distinction between goons and law abiding citizens, and only then can we be secure, writes Harish Narasappa.

Policy issues in the mainstream media tend to be about the economy. It is time that we pay closer attention to education, health, environment and foreign affairs, writes Ramachandra Guha.

Goa's land allocation policy to SEZs has been indicted for massive irregularities by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The list of violations is more or less a case the fence eating the crop, finds out Himanshu Upadhyaya.

People are shunning civil litigation in the states where there is no hope of obtaining justice in a reasonable amount of time, where instead of relief from the court all they can expect is a new date for the next court hearing. Kannan Kasturi reports.

Jhunjhunu's example can be emulated by other towns of this size. The work of the local groups has been diluted by institutionalisation, but mobilising people continues to pay dividends, writes Kalpana Sharma.

In mineral-rich lands, adivasis still find it hard to make ends meet. Violence between the state and Naxals threatens to divide and disenfranchise them further. Freny Manecksha reports.

Even as the CAG audit findings find faults with SSNNL for diverting the central funds from canal construction to unintended purposes, permission has been granted to raise the Narmada dam height. Himanshu Upadhyaya. points out this irony and more.

Four years on, positives seem to be weighed down by negatives -- thanks mainly to the aggressive land acquisition for mega real estate projects by the ruling LDF coalition. P N Venugopal wonders if the government’s confidence is at its low ebb.

If we lack the courage to be ashamed of the callousness with which our government treats its own people, we have no right to hope that a different India can be put on display when the world is watching, writes Madhu Purnima Kishwar.

Integrity, in the job of the Prime Minister, demands putting national interest above partisan politics and personal loyalties. By that standard Manmohan Singh can't be called a "man of integirty", writes Madhu Purnima Kishwar.

This time around, there is too much pressure - from opposition, media, and people at large - on the standing committee and Parliament for them to sit over the bill and let it lapse, writes Mathew Prasad Idiculla.

Six years ago the Supreme Court issued a detailed order listing the steps needed to insulate police work from politics, and to make it more accountable. But the progress since then has been slow. Navya P K reports.

Over the past few years, demands for change have been getting louder in India. But when you have a political system which is not willing to run with this new tide, the cost of this transition is going to be much higher, says Pratap Bhanu Mehta, calling the Congress party a monarchy and the BJP a church.

Governments have taken to announcing monetary compensation for victims' kin in cases of criminal acts as well, but it hardly masks their failure to impose the rule of law or bring about systemic improvements, says Harish Narasappa.

A complete and accurate database of dams and rivers in the country is the first pre-requisite for analysing hydrological issues and safety, but an analysis by Himanshu Thakkar shows that the authority entrusted to maintain such records clearly has a long way to go.

Apathetic, inefficient government and mindless pursuit of Western consumerist ideals by a few have brought India's marginalized millions to a state where the judiciary has to intervene to enforce the most basic of rights. Often, without effect, as Sakuntala Narasimhan finds.

The CAG Audit of the MGNREGS reveals serious irregularities and glaring discrepancies in the data in its MIS and actual paper records maintained. Shambhu Ghatak discusses the glitches, especially in the light of findings of several other reports and the National Sample Survey data.

As the massive disaster in flood-stricken Uttarakhand unfolds, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the glaring inadequacies in disaster management preparedness and risk reduction in the state, as well as the nation, as exposed by recent audits.