Prices are rising faster in rural areas compared to urban areas, according to the consumer price index readings for April. Inflation was up from 7% in March to 8% in April in rural areas while it climbed 4% to 5% in urban areas. Overall consumer prices were up 8% in rural areas while they were […]
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 […]
The Supreme Court has again pulled up the agencies investigating the 2G scam — this time the Income Tax department under the Ministry of Finance. Disappointed with the “slow progress” of the probe into upstream investors of companies that got the controversial licenses in early 2008, the Court asked the agency to speed up its […]
The government will auction five more wireless broadband spectrum slots increasing the total wireless broadband players from 3 to 8 by the next year, going by what telecom minister Kapil Sibal told an international conference in Geneva today. Sibal, speaking at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, said the total wireless […]
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 […]
