Congress President Sonia Gandhi's writ seems to have run and how! The government in a sudden move, almost deceptively, put the women's bill to voice vote in the Rajya Sabha and opened the new chapter in constitutional history.
There was shock within the non-Congress Members of Parliament to see how the government remained inactive within the Rajya Sabha when the Women's Reservation Bill was tabled on Monday.
Political pundits, sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody has said that if the bill becomes an act then it will be the biggest socio-political news since independence. This will have the impact bigger than the Mandal Commission that gave reservation to lower castes and it will go deeper than the Ayodhya movement that attempted to ignite Hindu identity cutting across caste barriers.
Prakash Karat, general secretary of Communist party of India-Marxist, termed the Budget 'flawed'. While speaking to rediff.com, he said, "The increase in indirect taxes will add to inflation. The government is neither going to achieve growth nor it will be able to contain inflation with this budget."
A report by leading Pakistani daily The News, on the bilateral talks held in New Delhi on Thursday, has claimed that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was not invited to Pakistan by her counterpart Salman Bashir.
When the entire Opposition walked out of Parliament, protesting against the move to raise excise duty on diesel and petrol by Re 1 per litre, the politics over the Budget began even before Pranab Mukherjee could complete his important speech.
Now, it is quite clear that the real 'talk' that Pakistan wanted to do with India was done by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in his press conference at the Pakistan Embassy.
In a historic move, the Indian Railways and the Ministry of Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build hospitals and OPDs at railway stations and on Railway land.
According to a top level source in government, New York based hotelier and controversial businessman, Sant Singh Chatwal's name has been proposed for the Padma Bhushan award this year. His name has been sent to the Emabssy of India in Washington for confirmation which is a mandatory requirement, sources told rediff.com
Saran's appointment will bring in a professional diplomat, who does not have any experience of handling internal security (which was Narayanan's strength) and issue of terrorism. But on other side, Saran has the backing of more than three decades of experience in international affairs and has recently gained thorough understanding of issues related to climate change.
According to the China experts in New Delhi the arrest of so-called 21 Indian diamond merchants on charges of smuggling under China's anti-smuggling laws in Shenzhen on January 8 needs to be handled carefully by the establishment and even the media.
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh defends against charges that the party slipped badly during his tenure.
Sheela Bhatt says the Congress cannot have a celebratory party until it addresses the national issues demanding attention.
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