In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
People aware of the development said, Law Secretary Niten Chandra, Legislative Secretary Reeta Vasishta and others met Kovind this afternoon to understand how he would like to go about the agenda before the committee.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, will lead the party in the coming assembly elections in the national capital.Malhotra was chosen as the party's chief ministerial candidate at a meeting of the Parliamentary Board which met at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi."He is an acceptable and senior leader. He has the potential to lead the party in the coming elections and emerge victorious," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said.
Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna on Wednesday quit as acting president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), almost two weeks after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to recognise any "acting/interim president".
The government will have to move a bill in Parliament to repeal the three agri laws, which were at the centre of protests by farmers for the past year, Constitution and legal experts said on Friday.
Dealing with the validity of OBC quota, the bench said, "Merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity. Competitive examinations assess basic current competency to allocate educational resources but are not reflective of excellence, capabilities and potential of an individual which are also shaped by lived experiences, subsequent training and individual character."
India achieved record foodgrains production this year but the withdrawal of three agri-reform laws and spike in cooking oil prices cast a shadow on the country's resilient agriculture sector that is on course for better harvest in 2022 despite pandemic blues. While soaring production of foodgrains that also helped the government provide free additional rations for COVID-hit poor families for many months together came as a relief, the passing year will be remembered for the long drawn farmers' protest at Delhi borders against the three laws and subsequent repeal of the legislations. The Indian agriculture sector, which was among the few segments that remained robust amid the pandemic gales, is expected to register a growth rate of 3.5 per cent in the current financial year ending March 2022.
A case has been registered and teams have been formed to nab the culprits, police said, adding that CCTV cameras in the area are also being scanned.
The joint meeting between the representatives of the suspended Indian Olympic Association, the Sports Ministry and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to find a way in resolving the issue that led to India's ban from the Olympics, is likely to get postponed for the second time in two months.
A number of senior BJP leaders including Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and party Vice President S S Ahluwalia rushed to L K Advani's residence in New Delhi after the announcement of his resignation on Monday from key party fora.
Clean Sports India (CSI), a movement for corrruption-free sports in the country, accused Indian Olympic Association's acting president, V K Malhotra of deliberately delaying the process of getting India's ban from the Olympics lifted by the IOC for his "vested interest".
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) can still avoid an Olympic suspension by calling off its controversial December 5 election, its secretary general Randhir Singh told Reuters on Thursday.
The International Olympic Committee issued the roadmap for India's return to the Olympic fold under which the Indian Olympic Association will have to amend its constitution before July 15 and elect new office bearers by September 1, both under the watchful eyes of the world body.
The Olympic Council of Asia has thrown its weight behind IOA's disgruntled acting-President V K Malhotra and Secretary General Randhir Singh and has urged the IOC against meeting officials from the suspended IOA during Wednesday's crucial joint meet to end India's Olympic suspension.
The Indian Olympic Association's acting president V K Malhotra and IOC member in India Randhir Singh are apparently miffed with the world body's changed stance.
The International Olympic Committee proposed to hold a meeting with Indian Olympic Association and government representatives while maintaining that it would consider lifting of the ban on India only if the IOA holds elections solely under the Olympic Charter.
In the wake of the International Olympic Committee's threat to ban India from the Olympic movement, IOC member Randhir Singh, who withdrew from the race for the post of Indian Olympic Association president, accused acting president V K Malhotra of creating a mess that would ultimately bring shame to the nation.
The International Olympic Committee made it clear on Wednesday that it will propose suspension of the Indian Olympic Association at its Executive Board Meeting early next month if the upcoming elections are held under the government's Sports Code.
A week after the Supreme Court order, the wife of slain ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was Wednesday given a copy of preliminary report of the Special Investigation Team which probed her complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others, and gave clean chit to them in the post Godhra riots.
An Ahmedabad court on Monday rejected Zakia Jafri's demand for access to preliminary report filed by A K Malhotra of Special Investigation Team in the Supreme Court during the inquiry into her complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others with regard to 2002 riots.
The Indian Olympic Association has termed the government's directive to adhere to age and tenure guidelines in its upcoming elections as 'illegal' and 'unconstitutional' and said that it could even move the Supreme Court if the case in Delhi High Court goes against it.
The International Olympic Committee has fixed the dates of the joint meeting with the Indian Olympic Association and Sports Ministry in the second week of next month to find a way towards resolving the issues that led to the country's ban from the Olympic family.
With the much-awaited elections to the Archery Association of India (AAI) drawing closer, the national convenor of Clean Sports India B V P Rao, who will be challenging incumbent president V K Malhotra, has raised several issues to ensure that the elections are free and fair.
Indian Olympic Association sought to steer clear of the controversy over tainted Suresh Kalmadi attending the London Olympic Games, saying that he was not a member of IOA delegation.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday slammed Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna for dictating terms to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) over selection of the team for the 2012 Olympics.
British High Commissioner in India, James Bevan called on IOA acting president V K Malhotra and assured full security for the Indian contingent which will take part in the London Olympics.
Former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi has asked senior vice-president V K Malhotra to continue discharging his duty as acting president of the IOA, saying he would not represent the body for some time.
Amid public resistance to nuclear power projects at Jaitapur and Koodankulam, the Department of Atomic Energy has said the work on both plants will be completed but their could be delay.
At its first executive committee meeting since the CBI arrested Kalmadi last month, interim president V K Malhotra said the IOA will follow the constitution when it comes to taking any step against the former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman.
The fierce wrangling in the IOA took a new turn on Monday with its senior functionary R K Anand claiming that the Ethics Commission's 'suspension' of Suresh Kalmadi was known to the apex body's top brass but was deliberately kept under wraps, a claim which was rejected by the rival faction.
A miffed Indian Olympic Association hit out at the Sports Ministry for not involving it in Saturday's merger talks to resolve the long-standing dispute between Hockey India and the Indian Hockey Federation.
Leaders of the opposition parties had on Friday met Naidu and handed over the notice of impeachment against the chief justice of India bearing signatures of 64 MPs and seven former members, who recently retired.
Indian Olympic Association officials along with a delegation of the National Sports Federations are meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament on Wednesday to discuss the issue of new guidelines that seek to limit the tenure of sports administrators.
Police used water canons to disperse a group of Bharatiya Janata Party protesters when they tried to break barricades to march towards Parliament to protest the hike in petrol prices.
The Indian Olympic Association on Monday expressed deep concern at Dow Chemical Company's sponsorship role in the 2012 London Olympics and said it would write to the organisers to reconsider the decision.
Delay in the completion of the the Commonwealth Games venues will rob the Indian athletes of the crucial home advantage as the players are losing out on getting a hang of the stadiums, Archery Association of India President V K Malhotra said on Tuesday.
Senior sports administrator V K Malhotra on Wednesday lashed out at M S Gill, saying the "meddlesome rent-a-quote" Sports Minister was out to usurp the autonomy of the National Sports Federations (NSF).
Amid criticism that it failed to meet the expectations of the people, the theme song of the Commonwealth Games composed by A R Rahman has been tweaked a bit to make it peppier like the popular Bollywood number 'Chak de'.