Reversing its earlier step, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to withdraw the ordinance as well as bill that sought to give protection to convicted lawmakers in the wake of public outburst against it by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot, who was recently appointed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief, says people are disenchanted with the Vasundhara Raje government.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
'The CBI and its independence was discussed in great detail. We invited and sought the views of the CBI director as well as several government officials. But the ingenious solution to the problem came from within the committee. The effort was to somehow find a solution. It would not have been possible to draft this Bill if members had not been liberal in their views and if they had not been prepared to rid themselves of their political bias.' Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who headed the Parliamentary committee which proposed the recommendations for the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Anita Katyal in an exclusive interview.
Government floor managers are busy talking to Opposition members to resolve the stand-off over Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's remarks, in the Rajya Sabha.
Taking a cue from the prevailing public mood against the political class, the Congress leadership -- Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- are said to have clinched the argument in favour of deferring the amendment to the Right to Information Act which seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law.
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.
A bill to auction coal mines is also likely to be passed later.
The system envisaged under the FRDI Bill, if implemented properly, would help improve the efficiency of capital allocation without harming consumers, and without risking the stability of financial firms, says Ajay Shah.
Like the Hindi film industry, where formulas for hit films are done to death, the political fraternity in India is making an all out effort to 're-brand' itself to follow the hit script of the AAP, says Upasna Pandey
King Salman and Narendra Modi will find common ground to intensify cooperation against jihadi terrorism, says Tarun Vijay, MP.
'If anybody defaults on something which is due for today, they have to disclose it tomorrow.' 'The accumulation of NPAs is due to asymmetry in information.' 'The investor should have real-time information.'
While its performance in Bihar, has boosted fund collections, corporate contributors are still waiting to see its performances in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal before committing funds to the Congress.
The NITI Aayog will now assimilate the views of states and then present a report to the PM.
Economists expect Modi to announce big-bang reforms.
Blaming opponents of the anti-superstition bill for the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has said organisations behind such acts should be isolated and their activities stopped.
The choice clearly is between prompt corrective action and slow but sure destruction, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Hoping against hope, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Monday refused to declare as dead the 5,748 persons missing after the June 16 calamity in Uttarakhand, saying the mission to find them will not be given up.
He is starting to realise that an era is ending. And he is not ready to have a five-decade career besmirched by two alphabets -- AP -- that have cropped up in the AgustaWestland papers, says Aditi Phadnis.
The new ordinance on land acquisition will allow land grabbers to deprive millions, destroy agriculture, horticulture, rivers, forests, tree cover and mangroves to extract minerals as well as ground water, without replenishment at a pace that will not leave anything for the next generation, warns activist Medha Patkar.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday saw high drama and embarrassment for the government as a Constitution amendment bill on backward classes was changed after some amendments moved by the Opposition were passed by the House.
Ahead of the Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reached out to parties appealing them not to come in the way of prosperity of farmers, saying the deadlock over the land acquisition bill is seriously impacting rural development.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of forcing it to walk out of the alliance by not being forthcoming on Narendra Modi's future role, senior Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday said the announcement of a split in the coalition was a "mere formality".
Congress leaders told Rediff.com that if Sonia or Rahul Gandhi do not take up the leader of opposition's post in Lok Sabha, it would lead to factionalism and internal dissension, something that the party can ill-afford at this juncture. "Kamal Nath is undoubtedly a senior MP but his candidature is bound to be opposed by the MPs from southern states as they have won more seats," remarked a senior Congress functionary, adding that senior ministers like Veerappa Moily and Mallikarjun Kharge can be expected to push their candidature for this post. Anita Katyal reports.
'The government know very well how to pass a bill in the Rajya Sabha with consensus.' 'They got consensus from Opposition parties on the 10 percent reservation for economically weaker sections.' 'In instant triple talaq, the BJP wanted to take sole credit.' 'They wanted to take credit and see that other parties suffer (political) loss.' 'Therefore, the bill got stuck.'
A landmark bill to replace the collegium system of judges choosing judges was on Thursday passed in the Lok Sabha after government dropped a controversial provision that required unanimity in recommendation if the President seeks reconsideration.
Chancellor Angela Merkel-led new German government has been jolted by its first political crisis after a minister resigned over claims he leaked confidential information about an international child pornography probe involving an Indian-origin ex-member of parliament.
Public Money, Private Agenda -- The Use and Abuse of MPLADS by A Surya Prakash provides a comprehensive look at the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme, which was launched 20 years ago in 1993. Excerpts from the book.
'If you look at the entire protest on April 2, you will find it was not only about the Atrocities Act dilution, but the accumulated anger of the Dalit community against the BJP over the last four years.'
'Do you know there is a 500 page report prepared by an inquiry committee headed by myself? When I placed the report in Parliament, have you heard any single Opposition leader give a notice for discussion? Why are they not demanding a discussion in Parliament on the report? They could have established that there was a scam. Today, a Parliament Committee report is as good as a Parliament report and this report says the 2G scam is no scam. Our government is suffering because of the media hype on these scams,' Congress MP P C Chacko tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
APJ Abdul Kalam was passionate about everything he did. He was perfect, says Aditi Phadnis
insisting that it had tried to strike a 'fine balance' to ensure that no injustice was done to innocent children.
Following her spat, 'Aunty National' Irani took to Facebook to speak out against her detractors. Here's the Facebook post in response to her critics which Rediff.com represents verbatim:
More and more Congressmen are breaking their silence and coming out in the open blaming party vice president Rahul Gandhi for the poll drubbing. Renu Mittal reports.
'Arvind's face fell... He started to say something, but couldn't continue. He broke down and as the tears fell unheeded, he crumpled to the floor.'
'Decisions on nuclear power have so far been taken by a small select group, primarily interested in profiteering from their actions, stating 'secrecy' as necessary from the national security point.' 'This argument is false, because we are dealing with the 'civilian' nuclear power sector, which is open even to the IAEA,' says Dr A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley assesses Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's first ever television interview
The absence of a clear underlying economic ideology in the Budget was quite evident, say experts.
The Centre needs to have dialogue with the Opposition instead of letting politics come in the way; it needs to stoop to conquer, says Aditi Phadnis.
The plan of UID/Aadhaar-based surveillance does not end with the collection of fingerprints and iris scan, it goes quite beyond it and poses a lethal threat to the idea of India, says Gopal Krishna.
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