Over the last five days, conversations in the national capital are increasingly about a 72-year-old son of a factory worker from Maharashtra, Kisan Baburao Hazare or Anna Hazare. While the majority of the Indian middle-class and the rural residents seem to be in favor of his agitation (going by the polls), many, especially the urban […]
The Parliament will not give a binding directive to the standing committee to go by the consensus that may emerge at the end of discussions today, according to the statement made by Pranab Mukherjee to start off the discussion in Lok Sabha today. Kicking the discussions off, Pranab Mukherjee, the senior most Congress leader, said […]
I do have a strong set of issues with the supposed ‘intelligentsia’ response to the Anna Hazara / IAC movement / Jan Lokpal bill – I use the terms loosely and interchangeably. The key stands, summarising Nitin Pai, Amba Salakar, Arundhati Roy et al seem to be: 1. “We (the civil society experts / bloggers […]
Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has lent strong support to passing a “strong and effective” Lokpal bill as soon as possible. She also lent support to Anna Hazare group on all three questions which were subjected to debate in the Parliament today. 1) On the issue of including the Judiciary, […]
India’s active mobile subscribers are only aorund half of the gross subscribers reported by the mobile operators, according to a survey by Juxt Consult, one of India’s pioneering mobile and Internet research agency. According to Juxt Consult, India had only 48.7 crore (487 million) mobile subscribers in June this year, compared to the 85 crore […]
India will get a new media regulator in less than a month, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said at a CII conference on Friday. The minister said that industry-government body meant to recommend the structure of the new body has finalized its proposals and the same are about to be forwarded to the Cabinet. […]
Emailing continues to be the most popular online activity even as Facebook is fast emerging as a strong competitor to Google in India’s online landscape, according to the 2011 online survey by mobile and online research firm Juxt Consult. While 95% of India’s online population use email, it is followed closely by product search (with […]
Congress leader Sandip Dixit, son of Sheila Dixit, refused to support Anna Hazare’s demand to include the lower bureaucracy within the investigative powers of the Lokpal. He was the first speaker from the Congress party speaking on merits at the Parliamentary debate on Anna Hazare’s three demands today, inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee. While he supported […]
Anna’s health has dipped below optimum levels, leading to the posting of a permanent medical team by his side. “We have increased his fluid in-take.. We’ll check today’s blood results and advise him in the evening,” Dr Naresh Trehan, one of country’s most prominent doctors, said after examining Anna Hazare’s health in the morning today. […]
Members of Parliament expressed their frustration and anger at being tarred as corrupt by the popular movement led by Anna Hazare. Leading the attack, senior leader of the Janata Dal (United) party, Sharad Yadav urged the protesters to remain civil and choose their words carefully. “Please keep your words within limits and we shall also […]
Nokia has just launched three new all-touch smartphone models — the 3.2 inch Nokia 600 & Nokia 700 and the 3.5 inch Nokia 701. The phones are not earth-shattering in terms of innovation. In fact, these are phones that would have helped the company hold on to its smart-phone market-share two years ago. But as […]
The CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya has taken a nuanced position on the three demands of Anna Hazare in the Lok Sabha debate today. Acharya was the first speaker from the left parties to speak on the matter. He dismissed the Government’s version of the Lokpal bill, calling it useless, but refused to fully support the […]
Team Anna has clarified that it is not enough for the Parliament to merely discuss the Jan Lokpal bill, but needs to pass a resolution. Anna Hazare has already called for three “must haves” for the new Jan Lokpal bill that will ultimately be passed by the Parliament. They are: 1) Entire bureaucracy must be […]
The Shiva Sena, one of NDA’s biggest allies and a major player in Maharashtra, has declared its full support to the three demands raised by Anna Hazare. Anant Geete, Shiv Sena MP from Raigarh in Maharashtra, expressed his party’s “total support” to the three points — bringing all bureaucrats under Lokpal, installing a citizen’s charter […]
The Editors’ Guild, one of the most powerful media organizations in the country, today approached the Information and Broadcasting ministry to seek sweeping reforms in the country’s defamation laws. The guild urged the government to repeal provisions of the current defamation rules under which editors of newspapers and TV channels may be put in jail […]
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar has expressed his reservations about the Government’s political judgement and called its actions arrogant and out of touch. “It is unimaginable that a popular movement is being blocked like this,” Ravishankar, one of the founding members of the India Against Corruption alliance, said. “So many blunders are being committed. The […]
BJP president Nitin Gadkari, in a grand press conference attended by most senior leaders, has accused the Congress Party led government of slipping into an emergency mentality. BJP, which does not agree with several of the protesters demands as well, asked Congress to respect other people’s right to popularize their opinion, even if they are […]
Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare may not be able to continue his fast for much longer as he is reported to be refusing water as well. Hazare had warned that if there had been police crackdown on his agitation, he would stop taking water as well. While Hazare could go on for several days without taking […]
Thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support and emotion from across the country, the government is learnt to have issued an order to release Anna Hazare. According to unconfirmed reports, the government has released a warrant for his release to the Director General of Prisons, Delhi. The order/recommendation has to be processed and agreed by […]
Retail prices increased by 6% in January, compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released by the government today. The increase in consumer prices was higher in rural areas (7%) compared to urban areas (4%), according to the data. As expected, the highest increase was in the prices of vegetables. Veggies […]
