Speaking at a party function in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accused the Mayawati Government of running “an elaborate scheme to deprive the local farmers of their land.” Her comments have come in the same aggressive tone adopted by her son and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, setting the pitch for […]
The good up by the Home ministry and the CBI in making India’s most wanted list “shall not be condoned” or “taken lightly,” the Congress party has said. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the spokesperson of the party, said an investigation is currently on to apportion the blame for the mess and action will definitely be taken. […]
The Prime Minister has approved the appointment of Ajit Kumar Seth,a 1974 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer belonging to Uttar Pradesh cadre as the next Cabinet Secretary with effect from June 14, 2011. A press release issued by the Ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions says that “The Prime Minister has approved the appointment […]
Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Corporate Communications and the prominent lobbyist whose alleged conversations grabbed the headlines six months ago, will sue Delhi-based lawyer RK Anand for allegedly defaming her. Anand, a former neighbour of Radia’s, has been sued for writing a book ‘Close encounters with Niira Radia’ whose publication was stopped by the […]
If you are a big corporate in India, or someone remotely connected to the Indian corporate world, it is unlikely that you don’t know Amit Mitra. The face of FICCI — India’s second largest industry association — Mitra has now decided to move on from influencing national policy to making them. Having been elected to […]
Arun Bothra, the CBI DIG in charge of the extraditing Kim Davy, the accused in the Purulia arms drop case, has dismissed allegations that the ‘expired warrant’ carried by CBI to Copenhagen was a big issue. Bothra, speaking to media in Copenhagen, said it was a mere technicality, even as calls increased for home minister […]
The Home Minister P Chidambaram is learnt to have forwarded the report of Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with a note that it disagreed with this recommendation. Earlier this week, Bhardwaj had sent a report to the Home Ministry claiming that the Speaker and the Chief Minister of Karnataka state […]
Shortly after it asked the Centre to clarify the exact powers of Lavasa as a Special Planning Authority or SPA, the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union Environment Ministry has found that Lavasa showed a higher built-up area in its plans by calculating its FSI in the wrong way. It asked the firm to come […]
India is one of the most ‘unpeaceful’ places in the world, going by the Global Peace Index – a ranking of nations according to their states of peace. Out of the 153 countries, India ranked towards the bottom in terms of peace, at 135. Iceland is the world’s most peaceful nation, followed by New Zealand, […]
The government has claimed to have rolled out 94,000 Internet-kiosks as part of its e-governance program. 1 lakh kiosks, called Common Service Centres or CSCs, were supposed to have been rolled out nearly 3-4 years ago, but have faced enormous delays. The biggest delay has been in readying government services — such as issue of […]
Sonia Gandhi today unveiled the strategy that the Congress and UPA will follow to counter the widespread perception that the government is beset with corruption and scams. Speaking at a Congress party event in Varanasi, the President of the party said no other government in India’s history has taken the kind of action against corrupt […]
The CNN-IBN channel has claimed that the National Commission for Women — a statutory rights body — has prepared a report in which it points to women being stripped and people being burnt by Uttar Pradesh policemen during the recent farmers’ agitation. Claiming to have seen the NCW report prepared after the Commission’s visit eight […]
One of the most recent US diplomatic cables released to be released by Wikileaks has pointed to India’s deep ambitions in Afghanistan. The cable, written as a ‘scene-setter’ for the visit of influential US Senator John Kerry in February last year noted that Indians were restrained in their military co-operation with Afghanistan only because of […]
Arindam Chaudhuri, the founder of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) chain and author has brought out advertisements in national media calling for greater control over content available on the Internet. Chaudhuri, who has been on the receiving end of a lot of scrutiny by bloggers over his institute’s claims, urged the viewers […]
Australian cricketer and captain of the Rajasthan Royals IPL team Shane Warne has been slapped with a $50,000 (Rs 22.5 lakh) by the Indian Cricket Board for publicly criticizing a Rajasthan Cricket Board official. A special disciplinary committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), consisting of IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, Ravi […]
After the exit of Mamata Bannerjee, Trinamool Congress has recommended the name of Mukul Roy to the Rail Bhawan, according to sources. Unlike Bannerjee, however, a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, is likely to be minister of state (junior minister) in charge of the Railways. Mamata had a thumping victory in recently concluded Bengal […]
Newly appointed chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Bannerjee has rolled out the red carpet for India’s biggest industrial house, the Tatas. She, however, stuck to her pre-election stand and promised again to redistribute the 400 of the 1000 acres of land given to the Tata Nano factory back to the farmers. Tatas are free […]
India’s main opposition party the Bharatiya Janata Party has called on the world community to ‘denuclearize’ Pakistan in the light of the increasing terrorist activity there. “It is necessary to denuclearize Pakistan not just for the safety of South Asia, but Pakistan’s own safety,” Rajiv Pratap Rudy, spokesperson for the BJP said, calling on the […]
US President and UK PM David Cameron extended their support to Pakistan in its fight against terrorism, making it clear that they don’t intend to ‘walk away’ from the beleaguered state reeling from terror attacks. “Pakistan has suffered more from terrorism than any other country. Their enemy is our enemy. We need to work with […]
World’s most influential activist group, Greenpeace has accused India’s telecom industry of unfairly helping itself to Rs 2,600 crore worth of fuel subsidy meant for essential services and the poor. The allegation, made in its latest report on the telecom sector, is based on estimates by the telecom regulator on how much diesel is consumed […]
