Indian Administrative Services officer Alka Sirohi, the key coordinator for the drafting of the Lokpal Bill, has been appointed as a Member of the Union Public Service Commission.
President Pratibha Patil, who is on a ten-day vacation in Hyderabad, is expected to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders when she returns to New Delhi.
Speaker Meira Kumar plans massive celebrations of the 60th year of Indian Parliament, on May 13, 2012.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid faced a tough time, deliberate interruption of debate on his own Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill to announce 4.5 per cent reservation quota to the minorities led to disruption of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday evening, as angry Bharatiya Janata Party members raised slogans and rushed into the House well forcing adjournment for the day.
The united Opposition on Wednesday checkmated yet another promise given by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to set up a central agricultural university in the Bundelkhand region, spread across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The government on Wednesday night exuded confidence to get the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, despite not having a clear majority.
The Election Commission on Monday empowered the returning officers to reject nominations on ground of a candidate holding an "office of profit" at the stage of the scrutiny.
The caste and Below Poverty Line census has been suspended in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, though it goes on nonstop in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur also have simultaneous elections.
Besides taking selected youth leaders to this institute for training, the Youth Congress also organises 5-day training camps in states to develop ideological clarity, communication skills and team spirit and guide them how to identify themselves with the locals and be the social activists more than just the political workers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has quietly made way for Congress president Sonia Gandhi for a function slated to be held in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday for Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, four-time Congress president, on his 150th birth anniversary. Dr Singh was supposed to be the chief guest at the event that marks year-long celebrations in memory of the distinguished leader from Uttar Pradesh. When Gandhi expressed her desire to attend, the event was postponed to Tues.
The retired armed forces personnel's long-pending demand for "one rank, one pension" got backing of a Rajya Sabha committee on petitions in a report tabled early this week, asserting that the financial liability of Rs 1,300 crores is not very big amount to deny the parity in pension.
The Bhartiya Janata Party's external affairs wing organised a demonstration at the Russian embassy in Delhi on Wednesday and handed over a memorandum addressed to President Dmitry Medvedev to the country's deputy ambassador, expressing outrage at a move in Tomsk to seek a ban on the Bhagvad Gita. The memorandum said the sentiments of millions of Hindus all over the world have been grievously hurt and hence the Russian government should ensure the dismissal of the case.
The Central Buraeu of Investigation on Tuesday claimed success in its evidence accepted by the district court of London for extradition of the 2006 War Room Leak accused Ravi Shankaran, a Navy commander who fled India since registration of the case in March 2006. It hopes to get him in India next month to stand trial in the case.
According to sources, the Election Commission has a tentative schedule to hold the Uttar Pradesh elections from February 16 or 17. The polling will be completed in six phases by around March 6, and the counting would be done along with all other states on March 10. Other states, including Punjab, will have one-day polls.
The Bhartiya Janata Party was in for shock and embarrassment on Friday when MPs of National Democratic Alliance ally Shiv Sena brought placards in both the Houses of Parliament and raised slogans for dismissal of its government in Karnataka.
Home Minister P Chidambaram's political rival Janata Party Chief Dr Subramanian Swamy on Friday shot a letter to the prime minister requesting him against inaugurating a hospital in linked to Chidambaram.
Bharatiya Janata Party member Prakash Javadekar seemed most upset with Friday's Rajya Sabha adjournment as his resolution on creation of a separate Telangana state was on top of the private members' business listed for the afternoon session.
The government is planning a special Parliament session in mid January next year for the Lokpal Bill as the Bharatiya Janata Party has a majority in the Rajya Sabha, sources told rediff.com.
First came the Supreme Court's stay on Tuesday on the municipal elections on December 18, directing the state election commission to notify the election dates on February 18 after the electoral rolls are revised. The Uttar Pradesh government had challenged the Allahabad high court order fixing the elections on December 18.
A core member of Team Anna and expert of food security, Devinder Sharma, told rediff.com that there is a debate going on within Team Anna whether the Gandhian should hold his proposed fast to press for a stringent Lokpal Bill from December 27 in Mumbai.
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