The Union Cabinet dropped the condition laid by previous government to exempt income tax payers from Haj subsidy.
As it transpired at a meeting chaired by Jammau and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to take stock of the cancellation of flights, the visibility criterion for landing at the Srinagar airport has been raised by the civil aviation authorities from 1.5 km to 2.2 km recently.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha on Thursday ordered a judicial probe into the allegations of installation of the artificial Shivalingam at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath.
Mukherjee has been entrusted with the task of handling the stand off between the two stalwarts before it gets out of hand, according sources close to external affairs minister.
Azad, who is away in Uttrakhand, ordered an inquiry and directed the director-general to suspend and arrest four cops involved.
Govt ready to discuss issues of public importance: Azad
The opposition leaders met Naidu on Wednesday morning, when Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad broached the issue and referred to the rules and conventions of the House, the sources said.
This is the first meeting chaired by Gandhi after relinquishing the post of Congress president last year.
"Azad saab (Ghulam Nabi Azad) had spoken on behalf of all of us that we don't accept this timeline -- we don't accept delimitation, election, statehood, we want delimitation, statehood and then election. If you want to hold polls, you'll have to restore statehood first," said Omar Abdullah.
'An old party like the Congress cannot rely solely on the prescriptions of a 'Doctor' whose motives and intentions are still unknown and that he does not look attached towards any party or ideology,' point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
The choice of 'Hari Niwas' conversion into the chief minister's residence came following growing security concerns for the chief minister.
The newly elected Congress legislators, who are staying at a resort on the city outskirts, also joined the protest.
"People have realized that militancy has given them miseries, devastation and destruction," he said, adding that that state was poised towards lasting peace.
However, Azad said he personally did not favour capital punishment.
"I think the Pakistani President has not applied his mind as everything was hotch-potch and the road map was not clear when he was making the proposals," Azad said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has defended his decision to allow the pro-Pakistani hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to perform Haj saying the piligrimage is necessary for all Muslims.
In an effort to push its demand for creation of a separate "homeland" for Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley by undertaking reorganisation of the state, a frontline organisation of the community plans to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon.
Imtiyaz told the troops that he had been instructed to lob it when Azad would visit the town in the afternoon, the official said.
With the inauguration of a direct flight from Delhi to Srinagar, Deccan Aviation, which operates Air Deccan, on Tuesday announced that the low-cost airline would concentrate on increasing the connectivity within Jammu and Kashmir.
As the winter session of Parliament ends on Friday, images of our MPs you haven't seen before!
The Budget session of the Parliament is likely to begin from February 25 with the Presidential Address to a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha followed by presentation of rail budget and general budget on February 26 and 28.
In Leh and Kargil, the army shifted 1000 people to safer areas in the past 24 hours.
An interview with former J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
The CLP will meet at 11 am at Vidhan Bhavan, party spokesman Anant Gadgil said.
Asked about the organisational changes made by Gandhi and the subsequent reported statements by some leaders who had written to her over party reforms, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he had not seen a single statement by any Congress leader on the issue and cannot comment on that.
Asserting that human rights violations will not be tolerated, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday defended the firing by security forces on protestors in Kupwara.
