Ahead of Anna Hazare's dharna in New Delhi on Sunday, government on Friday said Team Anna should await the passage of the Lokpal Bill before going ahead with any agitation on the issue.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Pawan Kumar Bansal, Vivek Tankha and Ranjeet Ranjan met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum by Ajay Maken, its candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll in the state.
The Centre on Wednesday appealed to Tamil Nadu and Kerala to amicably settle the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam between them and expressed its willingness to play a role of "facilitator".
The United Progressive Alliance is seriously considering increasing the strength of the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam from 21 to 30 members to accommodate more parties, but it is in no mood to expand its scope of the JPC to cover Commonwealth Games (CWG) fiasco, the Adarsh Society scam and the cancelled ISRO S-band spectrum sale.
After introducing the controversial nuclear liability bill in the Lok Sabha amid opposition protests, the government on Friday said it hopes to bring it for consideration in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
With the washout of winter session of Parliament weighing heavily on its mind, the government on Sunday appealed to the opposition to ensure a smooth budget session beginning next month expressing readiness to discuss all issues, including 2G spectrum, "on priority".
Hectic political activity is on in New Delhi with the government upset with what it terms as Team Anna's attempts to seek political consensus on its Jan Lokpal Bill. There is also uncertainity surrounding the scheduled debate in Parliament over the draft bill.
These ministers are meeting select group of editors and senior reporters every week to put forward their viewpoints. The wooing of journalists at the ministerial level is unprecedented and shows the defensive mood prevailing within the government.
The complainant accused Kejriwal and his brother-in-law of indulging in corruption.
With no breakthrough in the over three-year-old Samjhauta Express blast case, the Centre has decided to handover its probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unravel the conspiracy.
A move is afoot to extend the session of Parliament by three days from December 27 to 29 after a five day break from December 22, when it was scheduled to conclude, to facilitate adequate time for consideration of the Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal Bill is expected to be brought in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has sounded Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party leader L K Advani on the move and has promised to get back.
Accusing Punjab of running a campaign blaming it for floods in its territory, Haryana on Monday sought the Centre's intervention over the issue and defended construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal.
Due to paucity of time, the UPA government will drop the traditional scrutiny of the Budget by the Parliamentary standing committees. Instead, Pranab Mukherjee is in touch with BJP and the CPM, while Pawan Kumar Bansal and Anand Sharma have been asked to liaise with the smaller parties to ensure the Budget moves smoothly through Parliament.
"We are here to welcome Modi ji for giving us new employment under pakoda yojana. We want to sell pakodas at Modi's rally, so that he knows how great it is to sell pakodas for the educated youth," a woman protester said.
Governor E S L Narasimhan met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath to apprise her of the prevailing situation in Andhra Pradesh.
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, while dealing with an appeal of the wife who withdrew her consent for mutual divorce after a settlement, observed that the idea of a no-fault-divorce is to make the parties realise that there was a sensible way of parting on the agreed terms.
The delegation, to be led by Home Minister P Chidamabaram, is expected to meet a cross-section of people of the troubled state before arriving at a package of solutions
While the TN Government Railway Police sleuths are questioning five passengers, the commissioner of railway safety commenced inquiry over the mishap in Madurai.
The court noted that the wife claimed her husband was impotent and compelled him to undergo a potency test which found him fit. Such allegations, it observed, caused mental cruelty to him.
However, the final decision on the date of presentation of the Budget will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
A much talked about bill seeking a three-fold hike in salaries of MPs from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 and doubling their two key allowances to Rs 40,000 each was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The government on Friday said that 92.6 per cent bank deposits are fully protected under the Deposit and Insurance and Credit Guarantee scheme.
After the Amendment Bill is passed by Parliament and comes into effect, businesses like casinos would also come under a legal obligation to report their activities in the country. For fighting the menace of terrorism, the Bill introduces new category of offences which have cross-border implications. The draft legislation also empowers the Enforcement Directorate 'to search premises immediately after the offence is committed.'
The government said on Friday there is no proposal to ban participatory notes, which are instruments through which unregistered entities invest in the Indian securities markets.
The study of the Targeted Public Distribution System, which covered 18 states, held that though the offtake per household has shown improvement yet only about 57 per cent of the below the poverty line households are covered. The information was given by minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Based on evaluation studies and feedback received from states, a nine point action plan has been jointly formulated.
Liberhan report debate in LS rescheduled to Dec 7.
The Supreme Court Monday said no state should deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000, as recommended by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to the kin of persons who died of COVID-19 on the sole ground that death certificate does not mention it as the cause of death.
The Centre had earlier the apex court that the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot be paid to the families of those who have died of COVID-19 as the finances of state governments and the Centre are under severe strain.
Roundup for Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday
Three Pakistani banks, including Habib Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and United Bank, have expressed interest in opening branches in India.
Coach of the silver medal-winning Indian team at the Azlan Shah hockey tournament A K Bansal says the fact that he had three drag-flickers -- Sandeep Singh, Diwakar Ram and V R Raghunath at his disposal provided him a luxury few Indian coaches afforded.
Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said there was no proposal to waive loans of the landless. Indian Banks Association have asked its members to provide loans to the landless so that they can pay back the money-lenders, the minister said.
Narayan Jagadeesan followed up his double ton in the previous game with a magnificent triple century to help Tamil Nadu declare their first innings
Maharashtra was followed by Delhi with 33 cases from April 2005 to September 2008 and the money involved was little over Rs 47 lakhs (Rs 4.7 million), minister of state for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. In the current fiscal till September this year, 66 cases have been reported in the country where the money involved is more than Rs 100,000 while 46 incidents have come to notice where amount involved was less than Rs 100,000.
B H Mohanty was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a fast track court for raping a German scholar in Alwar in 2006.
Sidhu backed his wife saying 'she would never lie', while the CM said she refused to contest from Amritsar.
'...the CBI, just to force people to implicate me and the CM, has beaten up dozens of people,' Kumar alleged.
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