Party sources said Pratibha would herself reply to the allegations.
It was the DMK, whose opposition to divestment in the Nevyeli Lignite Corp, led to the previous UPA decision to put on hold all its divestment decisions and proposals.
After having prioritised the United Progressive Alliance government's programmes for its second term, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is asking his ministerial colleagues to stick to the agenda listed for the first 100 days in office.Dr Singh is writing a letter to his colleagues in the Union Council of Ministers to focus on the priorities and programmes outlined in President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
Training her guns on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was extremely critical of President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint sitting of parliament in New Delhi on Thursday.
In 2009, the district issued 754 guardian certificates to the parents of children with mental disability. It is another story that the number seems negligible from an all-India perspective.
To further improve rail connectivity and infrastructure development, 22 stations located at metropolitan centres and major tourist centres will be developed through public-private partnership, the President said.
"We have moved closer to complete legal equality for women in all spheres by removing discriminatory legislation, amending existing legislation and by enacting new legislation that gives women equal rights of ownership of assets like houses and land," President Patil said, addressing the joint sitting of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session.
President Pratibha Patil allocated the additional charge to Sharma on the advice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said late Saturday night.
President Pratibha Patil has given her assent to the delimitation proposal, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said, amid indications from the Law Ministry that it would come into immediate effect in almost all parts of the country. This is except Meghalaya and Tripura, where the assembly poll process is already on, and therefore it would come into force from March 20. Also excluded are four north-eastern states-- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland and Jharkhand
Paving the way for formation of a popular government in Meghalaya, the Centre on Friday night decided to revoke the President's rule imposed in the state nearly two months back.
President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday indicated that she will seek China's support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during her six-day visit to the country, the first by an Indian head of state in a decade.
Eminent journalist H K Dua and noted entrepreneur and former chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited A K Ganguly have been nominated by the government to the Rajya Sabha. Sources said on Tuesday that the names have been sent to President Pratibha Patil for her assent. Ganguly, who was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan award, the second highest civilian honour, was also a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry.
The Congress leadership is caught in a bind over Jairam Ramesh. While his support for a major Chinese telecom firm is being taken seriously by the party leadership, what has complicated the issue is the visit of President Pratibha Patil to China from May 26 on a five-day visit.
Images from the XIX Commonwealth Games baton handing over ceremony outside Buckingham Palace in London on Thursday.
In a decision that could lead to a final view on the clemency petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Home Minister P Chidambaram has recommended to the President commutation of the death sentence of a prisoner in Tamil Nadu.
President Pratibha Patil was on Tuesday accorded a red-carpet welcome by British Queen Elizabeth II, marked by pomp and pageantry, as she arrived at the imposing Windsor Castle in a stage carriage pulled by six white horses.
President Pratibha Patil has said that bringing back Mahatma Gandhi''s memorabilia to India would be the most exciting occasion of her visit to the United Kingdom. The memorabilia includes signed letters and a signed khadi cloth spun by Mahatma Gandhi.
Wrestler Sushil Kumar and pugilist Vijender Kumar, who won a bronze each at the Beijing Olympics, pose with the India President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had his first substantive meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, during which he told the American leader that India would like to carry forward the Indo-US strategic relationship that had developed during the last five years.
The Indians in Beijing celebrated the Independence Day on Friday with Ambassador Nirupama Rao hoisting the tri-colour at a function at the embassy. Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and other key Indian Olympic Association members also attended the ceremony.
Even as it sought to 'internationalise' the Jammu and Kashmir situation, Pakistan said on Thursday it was committed to improving relations with India and resolving all outstanding issues in a just and peaceful manner for the progress and prosperity of the two countries.
President Pratibha Patil has asked Indian Institutes of Technology to address the problems of rural areas by producing cutting-edge solutions for them.
Seventy six-year-old Dr Singh drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday morning from his 7, Race Course Road residence to greet Patil on the occasion, a PMO spokesperson said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday and discussed the internal security in the country and the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit meeting in Sri Lanka.
The 90-year-old singer will be conferred the award in a ceremony on October 21st by President Pratibha Patil.
President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra alias Raosaheb Shekhawat, who is contesting from Amravati constituency on a Congress ticket, is worth Rs 6.68 crore. Shekhawat's movable property is valued at Rs 1.36 crore and his immovable assets are worth Rs 5.32 crore, said the affidavit sworn by him at the time of filing of nomination.
Glimpses from the trust vote debate in Parliament.
President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Shekhawat, who has been nominated by Congress to contest assembly poll in Maharashtra, on Wednesday night said his mother's name was "deliberately being dragged" and that he should be considered only on his merit.
Reacting to reports of a kin of President Pratibha Patil being in the race for a Congress ticket for assembly polls in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said her family members should refrain from doing so keeping democratic norms in mind.
President Pratibha Patil has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to meet her on Thursday in the wake of Left parties withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued on Wednesday, hours after the four Left parties submitted letters snapping ties with the UPA government, said, "Keeping in mind these political developments, the President has requested the Prime Minister to meet her tomorrow to have his views."
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday afternoon soon after a meeting to decide on the modalities of withdrawal of support, Community Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat said with the prime minister announcing his decision to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency over the nuclear deal, no useful purpose will be served by continuing to support the government. The Left will be releasing documents to show that the government has lied to people.
India is currently estimated to have a total workforce of 500 million, which is expected to grow by 20 million every year over the next 10 years. President Pratibha Patil said India is a "nation of young people" and the country's youth can be made employable by investing in skill development. "India's demographic dividends can be realised only if the country invests in developing skills to make our youths employable," she said.
In her customary address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha Patil said, "Even in the prevailing adverse global environment, our economy, it is hoped, would still register a relatively high growth rate." Official estimates have pegged GDP growth for FY'09 at 7.1 per cent, considered good at a time when most developed economies are facing recession.
In her customary address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha Patil termed the terror attack on Mumbai as an attempt to retard the country's economic progress and said this and terrorist incidents in various cities were assaults on all the values of the country.
Gathering under the aegis of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), the ex-servicemen are disillusioned since their demand for "one-rank, one-pension" (OROP) has not been implemented by the government. The ex-soldiers' demand under the OROP is: "Two individuals retiring after equal length of service and from the same rank must get equal pension."
"The fact is that all human beings are one and our behaviour should be based on this basic truth. People create distinctions in their own mind and believe them to be true. Today, it is the perceived differences that are dividing people," Patil said while inaugurating the Global Vipassana Pagoda in suburban Gorai near Mumbai.
For the sake of neutrality of the Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners, CEC N Gopalaswami wants a bar on their joining any political party for ten years after retirement or taking up any government post. In a three-page note to President Pratibha Patil sent on January 16 when he separately recommended removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, he has sought amendment in the Election Commission Act for the purpose.
The bodies of six Indians killed in the Taliban attack in Kabul were flown to New Delhi in a special aircraft. Eight other Indians who were injured in the terror strike on two guest houses in the Afghan capital were also brought to the city in the plane.
Admitting that there has been an "unhappy pressure" on the prices of food grains and products, the government on Monday promised to tackle the problem even as it expressed confidence that it will aim at a growth rate of 8 per cent in the coming fiscal and 9 per cent in the next.
The President and the Trinamool's demand concerning the nominated members of the Rajya Sabha has the government in a quandary