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 […]
Despite strong reservations from the Telecom Regulator, telecom minister Kapil Sibal has said that the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) will be tasked with creating a massive optic-fibre network across the country. Speaking at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva today, Sibal said that “initially,” BSNL will be in charge of […]
Even as wholesale price inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index or WPI declined in April, experts have raised questions about the upward revision of earlier data. According to numbers released today, inflation in the country came down marginally to 8.66% in April from 8.98% announced for March last month. However, the government also […]
The petroleum ministry has hit back at detractors pointing out that the Rs 5 per litre hike in the price of petrol was only half of what was actually required. It claimed that even after the hike of Rs 5 per litre, state-owned oil companies continue to lose another Rs 4.58 per litre. “Loss” by […]
A delegation of senior National Democratic Alliance, including BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav met the Prime Minister to request the recall of Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured them that he will not take any ‘unconstitutional step’ irrespective of what is contained in the […]
The Centre for Science and Environment, one of India’s foremost environmental groups, welcomed the Supreme Court’s move to ban controversial pesticide Endosulfan today. It also accused two Committees preferred by the Government, the O P Dubey committee and the C D Mayee committee, of manipulating ‘facts’ to favor continuance of the use of Endosulfan in […]
The state elections of 2011 has been remarkable for a variety of reasons — the fall of a 34-year old Communist government in West Bengal, the resounding signal sent by the Tamil Nadu electorate that corruption will not be condoned and the not-quite-there victory of the Congress in Kerala. While the first two have been […]
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s second biggest industry association, said that Mamata Bannerjee’s victory in Bengal may bring back West Bengal’s lost status as one of India’s industrial hubs. FICCI, which normally restrains itself from commenting on changing political fortunes, said it “strongly welcomes” the transition of power in […]
The next time you are prompted to enter your facebook or twitter password after clicking on some nice ad, make sure the location bar of the browser says ‘facebook.com’ or ‘twitter.com.’ Gone are the days of alluring emails asking you to part with your bank account details to claim your million dollar prize, cyber criminals […]
On the second day of his official tour of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to reassure the Afghani lawmakers that India did not want to ‘impose’ its views on the country, and was interested only in ‘friendship.’ In his brief address to the join session of the two houses of Afghani Parliament, Singh mentioned […]
Oommen Chandy is all set to be Kerala’s next chief minister as the Congress ‘High Command’ Sonia Gandhi is expected to have lent her weight to his candidature, even as his rival Ramesh Chennitala withdrew from the race. Senior Congress leaders Mohsina Kidwai and others are expected to touchdown in Trivandrum by 1 pm with […]
The 16 Karnataka MLA’s, who were disqualified by the Karnataka Speaker after they switched sides from BJP, have again lent their support to the party, according to BJP state unit. The BJP Karnataka unit has faxed their claim to the Karnataka Rajbhawan, claiming that they continue to have majority in the Assembly. The MLAs too […]
The Congress led UDF government will swear in on Wednesday in Kerala, UDF Convener PP Thankachan said. Thankachan also said that the selection of Oommen Chandy as the head of the coalition has been unanimously approved by the all the parties in the United Democratic Front. There are likely to be 21 Ministers — the […]
India’s ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has exempted the solar PV farms coming up in the country from having to seek environment clearance. India is in the midst of a massive program to increase its grid-connected solar power generation capacity from around 20 million watts at the end of the 2010 to 20,000 million […]
J Jayalalitha, who is being sworn in as Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister, is unlikely to join the Congress-led UPA at the Centre any time soon, according to sources in Chennai. While Sonia Gandhi has already invited the AIADMK supremo for ‘breakfast’ and congratulated her on her victory over Congress ally DMK, the feisty former-actress […]
Embattled Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has claimed support from 121 MLAs out of the total 224 members in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Yeddy, as he is popularly known, is on his way to the national capital Delhi where he plans to speak to the Prime Minister and the President of India. All BJP MLAs […]
