Kapil Sibal has denied that his comments — that the Lokpal bill won’t address issues close to people’s hearts — was disrespectful of the bill he is supposed to help frame. Speaking to reporters in Delhi today, he said Lokpal bill will only address the issue of corruption, but the biggest problems facing people in […]
As Hon’ble Members will recall, several members had raised allegations, based on reports in a newspaper, about purported cables from the US Embassy in New Delhi to their authorities in Washington. In response to the request from the Leader of the Opposition, I had made a statement on this subject in this House on March […]
Short on the heels of Sony, which launched India’s first AMD Fusion powered notebook, World number 3 laptop brand Acer introduced two new full-sized models with full day computing. Unlike other manufacturers such as HP and Sony, Acer has launched full sized notebooks — 14 and 15.6 inch — on the AMD Fusion E series […]
European magazine GEO is all set to launch in India after it got approval today from the Finance ministry for investing in the country. It will initially invest Rs 7.35 crore to launch the Indian edition. GEO one of the most popular magazines in Europe and is based out of Germany. The first edition of […]
Meeting Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then railway minister, was an “unforgettable experience” for the then US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, according to a cable released by Wikileaks. Mulford, who described Lalu as “as one of the most savvy, colorful, grassroots politicians in India,” however, was disappointed by the rather ‘serious’ Lalu that he encountered. […]
Robert O Blake, the interim US ambassador to India in 2005, praised the then newly elected Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat as “a talented and skillful leader, well-aware of his political importance.” The cable, sent in May 2005 busted two myths — one, that the US embassy did not try or succeed […]
UP is the state most vulnerable to Islamic terrorism and extremists seemed to operate with impunity in the state, worrying the community elite; according to the US embassy’s survey after 2006 Mumbai bombings. An embassy survey among Muslim intellectuals in Lucknow, including Maulvis (both Sunni and Shia), Urdu language journalists, political and community leaders, scholars […]
The Americans considered the hijacking of the IC-814 to Kandahar and the subsequent release of Islamic Terrorists “an ignominious decision, and defeat” on the part of India, according to new cables released by Wikileaks. The cable also shows that in 2005, the Indian external affairs ministry did not mind putting stress on the relations between […]
Telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar has set a deadline of one month for taking action against companies found to be involved in the 2G scam. Talking to reporters in Delhi today, Chandrasekhar, who has a reputation as a clean and no-nonsense technocrat, said all the 70 or so companies that have been sent notices for misrepresenting […]
The North Eastern Indian state of Manipur is ruled more like an Indian colony than a state with widespread human rights violations, the Kolkata US Consul General Henry V Jardine wrote after a visit of the state in September, 2006. Jardine, who was on a security-checking mission in the trouble-prone state, gave a stark, if […]
The World will spend a whopping $29.4 billion (Rs 1.35 lakh crore) this year on media tablets, a market where Apple had almost 90% marketshare last year, according to Gartner research agency. The number is three times the equivalent figure for 2010, the researcher said in its latest prediction. Gartner had earlier predicted tough times […]
The Mumbai Consultate and New Delhi embassy of the US Government were extremely concerned at the use of an ‘American’ hotel in Dubai for the “brazen” wedding of Dawood Ibrahim in late 2005. The US officials in India asked for action against the US-based Hyatt group for letting the wedding take place at the hotel […]
Concerned over India’s galloping electronics import bill, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will recommend a phased introduction of ‘local sourcing’ rules of telecom operators in a week. The TRAI chairman JS Sarma said most of the final details on the recommendations, has been arrived at and the recommendations will be put out next week. […]
The lot of Dalits is unlikely to improve drastically under the UPA government as the alliance is dominated by upper caste Hindus, who don’t always care about the poorer sections, the then US Ambassador to India, David Mulford wrote in 2005. “While the UPA has focused on bettering the lot of the dalit community, it […]
In 2005 immediately after his visit to Pakistan Senior Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader,Lal Krishna Advani’s was on the verge of being sidelined,actually he was pushed to the corner. The reason was his charitable remarks on Jinnah in which he described him a secular leader. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS),the parent organization of the BJP, reacted […]
Naxalism in India is unlikely to abate any time soon because the Indian government is not willing to take the tough steps to address the concerns of the poor and the marginalized, wrote the then US ambassador David Mulford in a 2005 cable released by Wikileaks. “Indian economic development has missed large portions of the […]
Novelist,Anuja Chauhan, of ‘The Zoya Factor’ fame is going to be a script writer. Taking a predictable route that most of the writers of non serious faction takes the dashing author of two novels will be writing a script for Nikhil Advani’s next film, ‘Guppie-Mein Liar Nahih Shayer Hoon’. ‘Guppie…’,a love story,will hit the floor […]
Having upgraded its urban network to high-speed CDMA, Reliance Communications today announced it is drastically cutting the tariffs in non-urban areas — which are still on the older CDMA technology. In such places, consumers can have unlimited internet access for just Rs 169 per month, about one tenth of the rate that existed before today. […]
India’s trade deficit for the first eleven months fell to $ 97.1 billion from $100.2 billion registered during the same period a year ago, thanks to booming exports and a dip in oil imports. India’s exports continued their outstanding performance in February, rising 50% during the month. During January too, exports were up by more […]
After Raja and ISRO, the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) has chosen a much more glamorous victim for its latest enquiry. According to the audit report released today, most Indian film personalities and producers are less than completely truthful when it comes to declaring their income and paying tax. The CAG came to […]
