Impressed with India's successful effort in polio eradication, Pakistan is keen to emulate the model to achieve polio-free status even as it allayed fears of exporting the virus to the Indian side.
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
Azad, who is a prominent member of the group of 23 leaders who had demanded organisational overhaul in the Congress, said that for the next two months the party is the top priority.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday alleged that Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had placed wrong facts in the Lok Sabha on 15 occasions in the last three years and insisted it will move a Privilege Motion against him for "misleading" the House. BJP Member of Parliament from West Champaran Sanjay Jaiswal told reporters that Azad has been misleading the House for the past three years on issues.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday launched a veiled attack on Congress leaders and said he gave sweat and blood for the party unlike those who are spreading 'falsehood' through social media.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called off her Maharashtra visit on Sunday because of health reasons, party sources said.
A final decision on the contentious Telangana issue would be taken after detailed consultations with leaders of both Telangana and Seemandhra regions at an 'an appropriate time and place,' Union Health Minister and Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Saturday.
With many claimants for the chief minister's post in Uttarakhand, the ball was on Saturday back in the court of All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi to take a call, as the party observers wrapped up their consultations with Congress and independent Members of Legislative Assembly on the leadership issue. Congress general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chaudhary Birendra Singh, in-charge of the affairs in the state, held separate talks with each of the MLAs.
Amid protests in Hyderabad, a high-level meeting is likely to be convened in New Delhi to lay out a road map for the formation of Telangana.
A day after tendering their resignations, Congress ministers, members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday met senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and are understood to have demanded an early decision by the Centre on the separate state issue.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
With an incident of rats nibbling at a paralytic patient in a Rajasthan hospital coming to light, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday put the onus on state government for ensuring proper treatment to patients.
Ministers, legislators and Members of Legislative Council are understood to have raised a virtual rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, protesting his unilateral style of functioning.
With an incident of rats nibbling at a paralytic patient in a Rajasthan hospital coming to light, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday put the onus on state government for ensuring proper treatment to patients.
The government plans to screen the nation's entire population in the next five years for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and strokes for early detection and treatment of the ailments, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday. He said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha that a pilot project has been launched in 100 districts of 21 states for prevention and early detection of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and strokes.
There is a likelihood of some delay regarding an announcement on Telangana with the Congress seeking to buy more time to resolve the vexed issue despite the January 28 deadline set by the Centre to decide the matter.
Many Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh are up in arms against Union Minister Vayalar Ravi for being rude to them when the Telangana statehood was raised.
Are victims of bomb blasts and terrorist activists given only "low cost" artificial limbs during rehabilitation? The issue has been highlighted by Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi in a letter written to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad asking for "good treatment" for victims of bomb blasts and terror acts.
The stalemate in seat sharing talks between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress for the April 13 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu persisted with All India Congress Commitee president Sonia Gandhi's special emissary Ghulam Nabi Azad leaving for New Delhi on Thursday after his inconclusive talks with DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said that there should not be any politics on the Supreme Court ruling and everyone should respect it.
The recent visit by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh has failed to provide any respite to the poverty-ridden Japanese Encephalitis struck population of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, where the killer disease has killed 507 children over the past four months.
Union Health Minister and Congress in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said that the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government is trying to resolve the separate Telangana state issue in the most amicable way.
The Congress on Sunday wrote to the Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind for a 7-member party delegation led by Rahul Gandhi to meet him and present a detailed memorandum of facts in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident that claimed the lives of eight people earlier this month.
Ratcheting up pressure, Congress ministers and MPs from Telangana on Wednedsay asked the party high command not to further delay the formation of a separate state even as the party indicted that the consultation process at the national level will begin soon.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon emphasised India's growing role in the 21st century and how the world will benefit from its emergence on the global stage during his trip to the country late last month.
Swine flu claimed 344 lives this year even though the pandemic has subsided in the country, Union Health Ministry told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
India on Thursday urged United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to ask member nations not to cut down financial and technical aid for public health initiatives across the globe.
The government on Monday said that it was working towards a consensus on the issue of nominating a candidate for the Presidential polls expected to be held in July this year.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
Suspense continued on Sunday over who would lead the Congress-led government in Uttarakhand, with top leaders from the state and the Centre huddled in the national capital to decide on the new chief minister.
Nearly 20 members of Trikone, a non-profit organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people of South Asian descent, rallied in front of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Friday to condemn Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks about homosexual acts being unnatural. The protesters were carrying placards written, "It is not a western import." "We want to show that the biggest democracy in the world has failed," said a spokesperson.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is on a four-day visit to China, met his counterpart Chen Zhu in Beijing and sought his intervention to expedite clearance for Indian pharmaceutical companies.
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi met leaders of the G-23 grouping to resolve internal party issues, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said "indulging the dissenters too much" will encourage more dissent.
Ahead of the all-party delegation's visit to Kashmir Valley next week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held deliberations with senior party leaders on the strategy for the troubled state.
General Rahul into battle... did Markandey Katju stage a 'walkout'... the DMK dress code braves the North Indian winter... and ahem! yet another 'son rise' in Lucknow... chai and gupshup from the Dilli Darbar.
After a prolonged delay, government will soon notify new pictorial warnings on tobacco products, which will be "harsher" in case of chewing tobacco as it has been found more harmful than smoking.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was summoned to New Delhi by the High Command, made the announcement after his meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and general secretary in-charge of the state Ghulam Nabi Azad.
All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi is studying AICC observer Ghulam Nabi Azad's note on Telangana and a decision is likely to be out by this weekend.
The deadlock over seat sharing between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Congress for the Tamil Nadu polls came to an end on Tuesday.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.