The scandal surrounding Lalit Modi serves as a reminder for how similar our mainstream political parties are in resisting institutional reform.
Ahead of his two-day maiden visit to Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he was looking forward to it with a great sense of "enthusiasm and delight" as the two sides readied a host of pacts to be signed including one on enhancing connectivity.
The opposition, while not directly stalling Parliament, will insist all legislation goes to standing committees, delaying implementation.
Modi will reach Bangladesh capital of Dhaka on Saturday morning.
With Anna Hazare sitting on an indefinite fast and the Congress having received a huge drubbing in Delhi at the hands of newcomers Aam Aadmi Party -- who fought the elections on the plank of eradicating corruption and bringing transparency in public discourse -- the party-led United Progressive Alliance government has finally decided to bring the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The reasons for China's negative response are located in its territorial dispute with India but also to its grand designs of dominating the region from its previous position of being merely a "balancer" between India and Pakistan, points out Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies at JNU.
Thirty-five Union ministers on Friday huddled in a strategy meeting for an image make-over for the government on a day when Congress began its foot march against the land bill from the symbolical Bhatta Parsaul village.
The session will have 20 working days for now.
'Jaitley was one of the earliest politicians to sense the changing political scenario in Delhi. He had closely watched the rise of the BJP and declining fortunes of the Congress party during the L K Advani era. But it was between 2009 and 2014 as the Leader of the Opposition that he began to read the tea leaves. 'And thus it was that he introduced Modi-Amit Shah duo to Lutyens Delhi,' says senior journalist R Rajagopalan who had known Jaitley since 1975.
The Telangana Bill, which was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh assembly on January 30, will return to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday along with six bundles containing 8,049 amendments.
The family members said the government has reached out to them in 'our time of need and anxiety' and the external affairs minister as well as an official of the ministry had spoken to them in the past two days.
Notwithstanding Congress' reprimand, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Saturday intensified his attack on his friend-turned foe Mulayam Singh Yadav accusing him of conniving with the Bharatiya Janata Party to flare up communal passions and dared the Samajwadi Party leader to a public debate on Babri issue.
With just eight days left for the winter session, Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minster M Venkaiah Naidu held consultations with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Leader Anand Sharma.
Sheela Bhatt lists ten quick takeaways from the passage of the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha.
If the government does not allow the Opposition a few victories, then it is opening the door to paralysis and an entrenched culture of confrontation.
The PM hailed the armed forces in context of Kargil Vijay Divas and paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
With just four days left before the curtains come down on the 15th Lok Sabha, sources in the government say that the Congress is left with no option but to pass the bill otherwise they would be at the losing end in both Seema-Andhra and Telangana. Renu Mittal reports.
The prime minister was often seen vigorously thumping the desk, prompting his Cabinet colleagues and NDA MPs to follow suit.
Slogan shouting Congress and BJP members on Monday forced four adjournments of Rajya Sabha demanding dismissal of SAD-BJP government in Punjab over alleged atrocities against Dalit youths.
The United Progressive Alliance government's efforts to rein in the judiciary may come unstuck as its ambitious bill scrapping the collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and high courts as the Bharatiya Janata Party is unlikely to allow the passage in the ongoing Parliament session.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the government over the arrest of protesting Film and Television Institute of India students, telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they are not criminals.
Modi showered praise on Tharoor for his Oxford speech, saying he reflected the sentiments of the citizens of India.
Archana Masih recalls that December evening 22 years ago when Atal Bihari Vajpayee logged into the Rediff Chat.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi could only manage 244 votes.
Hectic activity, apparently over drafting of a resolution on the release of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj joined the House to condemn it.Hectic activity, apparently over drafting of a resolution on the release of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj joined the House to condemn it.
According to data culled by PRS Legislative Research, Singh has asked 13 questions in the Lok Sabha in its proceedings up to the last budget session, while the average is 69.
He has served BJP in several capacities, will also be a saviour for the NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where they are still in minority.
The briefing comes ahead of the parliament session beginning Monday.
In diplomacy, a prime ministerial visit should be viewed as a rare event, not a routine one, which should be taken recourse to only when other options like ministerial visits are not available. But Modi has a different style of functioning. He wants to do everything himself, says Rajeev Sharma
The BJP has 165 first-time MPs. Are we to expect such utterances from all 165 of them? Or only those from a rural background? Because that is the explanation given by the PM, says Jyoti Punwani.
Pilot says that the Congress is demanding that the Rajasthan CM be booked for criminal culpability.
Defending his economic policies, Modi said demonetisation was 'a very big success story'.
Jaitley said Modi has never questioned Manmohan Singh's integrity and commitment to the nation.
"We are actually shocked. The prime minister did not even take into confidence chief ministers of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, who are directly affected. Here is another show of arrogance of this government," Gandhi told media persons.
How the two South Asian neighbours will interact with each other in the coming months will be decided by the two prime ministers in Washington.
The Congress seems to have brokered peace with the main Opposition parties on the crucial food security and land acquisition Bills and ensured that they are not dependent on the whims and fancies of smaller parties. Renu mittal reports
President Pranab Mukherjee will be among over 90 heads of state and government who will attend an emotional memorial service in South Africa on Tuesday for anti-apartheid legend Nelson Mandela, making it one of the largest such gatherings in generations.
The Afghan deputy foreign minister explains how his nation's President became disillusioned with Pakistan. Ajai Shukla listens in.
'So, why did Kejriwal, the crusader against corruption, choose such an officer as his principal secretary? He has to explain. After that, he realises that Kumar's case is not picking up, so he changes tracks and picks up Jaitley for the DDCA case.' 'I personally feel this is part of Kejriwal's strategy. If he has evidence against Jaitley, then why doesn't he file a first information report like he did in the petroleum case?'
'He was always opposed to a form of nationalism that was narrow, selfish and arrogant.' 'He will always remain a beacon of inspiration for freedom-loving people across the world and for movements of resistance against oppressive State power.'
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