For the second time in as many months, the Government on Wednesday night cut petrol price by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, while the domestic LPG rate was also slashed by as much as Rs 25 per cylinder.
A group of jostling people wearing AAP caps jumped barricades, set up around all the arterial roads leading to the venue where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sat on dharna for the second day, and clashes broke out when police started pushing them back.
Dinesh Trivedi, a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, says, "Our government is seriously bothered about Anna's health. Why is Team Anna not requesting Annaji to break his fast, even once? I believe the government is more worried about Anna's health than even Team Anna."
Under Urjit Patel, the then RBI Governor, the central bank had a habit of making complete about-turns on various issues, including electoral bonds and digital payments, former finance secretary Subash Chandra Garg said in his book titled 'We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions.' Citing some instances of about-turns by the then RBI Governor Patel, Garg in his book said, RBI had done so on the electoral bond issue and it had so in case of setting up of Payments Regulatory Board (PRB). RBI also made unilateral decisions like ordering complete data localization for participation in the payment system, Garg wrote in the book which will hit the stands on October 1.
Trinamool Congress, a key constituent of the United Progressive Alliance, on Thursday opposed the hike in diesel prices, saying it was not consulted about the step and demanded its rollback. "We were not consulted for this and we are unhappy with the decision to hike diesel prices," said Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
A Parliamentary Committee will discuss the controversial issue of net neutrality on Thursday at a meeting where officials of telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are expected to present their views.
The Congress slammed Ravi Shankar Prasad, accusing him of distorting, twisting and lying "with a straight face".
Such a course would require a Constitutional Amendment, requiring a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament. Even assuming that the INDIA combine comes to power at the Centre next year, a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha could way off the mark for them, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
With key UPA allies -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members -- clearly expressing their resentment to a new state, sources say the Congress is now looking to find a way out of the situation.
Jaishankar said that the resolution on Kashmir introduced by Jayapal in the House is not a fair characterisation of the situation in J-K. And also said that he has no interest in meeting the Congresswoman.
A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva -- all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not chosen any of the top ministers in his Cabinet to head the government during his visit to South Korea between March 24 and March 27. "The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs may decide on issues of national urgency. The CCPA will, in the prime minister's absence, be presided over by the senior-most minister," says a 'Secret/Most Urgent' note sent out by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth to nine senior ministers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has once again ducked the question of who is No. 2 in the Union Cabinet in the working arrangements he made during his 4-day Iran visit.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday informed media personnel that the Centre was referring the issue of creation of a separate state of Telangana back to the Andhra Pradesh assembly to rebuild a consensus.The Andhra Pradesh assembly had passed a resolution in January last year, seeking deletion of Clause 14(F) from the Presidential Order for the purpose. The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to refer back the resolution to the assembly, Chidambaram said.
The Congress on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha against alleged breach of privilege by Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday suspended Sandeep Kumar from the party, days after he was sacked from the post of Women and Child Development minister over an "objectionable" CD in which he was shown in a compromising position with a woman.
He also said that when it comes to proscribing some terrorists, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has 'regrettably' been unable to act in some cases because of 'political considerations'.
Sunak joins fellow Indian-origin candidate Suella Braverman, the UK Attorney General who is among the early Tory MPs to announce her plan to contest.
The cabinet normally meets on every Wednesday and the reasons for convening a meeting on Monday has not been disclosed by the government yet.
Ousted members of AAP's PAC Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan rebutted the allegations of anti-party activities levelled against them.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) met in New Delhi where officials briefed the meeting on the police action.
The party sent the suspension notices to Uttar Pradesh leaders Rakesh Sinha and Vishal Sharma Lathe for openly coming out in support of Yadav and Bhushan.
"The fight against impunity is critical to the larger pursuit of securing peace and justice. The Security Council must send an unambiguous and unequivocal message on this count," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the 15-nation UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine 'Fight against impunity'.
The AAP on Sunday removed party's internal Lokpal Admiral L Ramdas and Prashant Bhushan as the chief of the National Disciplinary Committee
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
China has been an aggressor against India along the Himalayan border, a top American diplomat nominated by President Joe Biden as his next envoy to Beijing has told lawmakers, stating that the US must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules.
'The Constitution of India is a stumbling block. So, they want a Presidential mode of election.' 'This is the sole purpose of the BJP to go for one nation, one election.'
Rishi Sunak, the former UK chancellor of the exchequer, on Friday formally launched his leadership bid to succeed Boris Johnson as the new Conservative Party leader and future British prime minister.
An emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night took no decision on the vexed Telengana.
Gopal Krishna makes a case against the nuclear liability bill.
A top aide of Rajiv Gandhi spoke in contradictory voices about the Bhopal gas tragedy, first ruling out the late prime minister's involvement in the sudden release of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson and later hinting that he may have had a role.
'The AMs are a different beast and reflect the political play within the government.' 'Prime Minister Modi does not need to assuage any interest group to take the final call on any decision that belongs rightfully to the Cabinet,' points out Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
The PAC expressed its concern over anti-party activities indulged in by Gandhi and Khalsa. Both have been involved in the activities of certain outfits, opposed to aims and objectives of the AAP.
Barely days after imposing a 40 per cent export tax on onions to cool down soaring prices, which, in turn, triggered widespread protests across the main growing belts, the Centre on Tuesday sought to mitigate both political and economic tensions gripping parts of Maharashtra. It decided to procure an additional 200,000 tonnes of onions at Rs 2,410 per quintal for its buffer stock from farmers, a rate that is strikingly close to the price at which they were being exported before the 40 per cent duty was levied on August 19. The export price before the imposition of the duty stood at around $320 per tonne free on board (approximately Rs 2,650 per quintal).
Das, a law graduate, was in politics from his college days and was elected as the Students' Union president at Gangadhar Meher College at Sambalpur, one of the oldest colleges in western Odisha.
They also asked Pak to take 'demonstrable action' against terrorist groups within its territory.
"Why is it that whenever there are no political overtones to a case, the CBI does a good job?" he said.
Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi chief minister on Saturday along with a team of six ministers with an average age of 37 years.
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
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