Category: UNCLASSIFIED

I do have a strong set of issues with the supposed ‘intelligentsia’ response to the Anna Hazara / IAC movement / Jan Lokpal bill – I use the terms loosely and interchangeably. The key stands, summarising Nitin Pai, Amba Salakar, Arundhati Roy et al seem to be: 1. “We (the civil society experts / bloggers […]

Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has lent strong support to passing a “strong and effective” Lokpal bill as soon as possible. She also lent support to Anna Hazare group on all three questions which were subjected to debate in the Parliament today. 1) On the issue of including the Judiciary, […]

India will get a new media regulator in less than a month, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said at a CII conference on Friday. The minister said that industry-government body meant to recommend the structure of the new body has finalized its proposals and the same are about to be forwarded to the Cabinet. […]

Congress leader Sandip Dixit, son of Sheila Dixit, refused to support Anna Hazare’s demand to include the lower bureaucracy within the investigative powers of the Lokpal. He was the first speaker from the Congress party speaking on merits at the Parliamentary debate on Anna Hazare’s three demands today, inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee. While he supported […]

Anna’s health has dipped below optimum levels, leading to the posting of a permanent medical team by his side. “We have increased his fluid in-take.. We’ll check today’s blood results and advise him in the evening,” Dr Naresh Trehan, one of country’s most prominent doctors, said after examining Anna Hazare’s health in the morning today. […]

Members of Parliament expressed their frustration and anger at being tarred as corrupt by the popular movement led by Anna Hazare. Leading the attack, senior leader of the Janata Dal (United) party, Sharad Yadav urged the protesters to remain civil and choose their words carefully. “Please keep your words within limits and we shall also […]

Nokia has just launched three new all-touch smartphone models — the 3.2 inch Nokia 600 & Nokia 700 and the 3.5 inch Nokia 701. The phones are not earth-shattering in terms of innovation. In fact, these are phones that would have helped the company hold on to its smart-phone market-share two years ago. But as […]

The CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya has taken a nuanced position on the three demands of Anna Hazare in the Lok Sabha debate today. Acharya was the first speaker from the left parties to speak on the matter. He dismissed the Government’s version of the Lokpal bill, calling it useless, but refused to fully support the […]

Team Anna has clarified that it is not enough for the Parliament to merely discuss the Jan Lokpal bill, but needs to pass a resolution. Anna Hazare has already called for three “must haves” for the new Jan Lokpal bill that will ultimately be passed by the Parliament. They are: 1) Entire bureaucracy must be […]

The Shiva Sena, one of NDA’s biggest allies and a major player in Maharashtra, has declared its full support to the three demands raised by Anna Hazare. Anant Geete, Shiv Sena MP from Raigarh in Maharashtra, expressed his party’s “total support” to the three points — bringing all bureaucrats under Lokpal, installing a citizen’s charter […]

The Editors’ Guild, one of the most powerful media organizations in the country, today approached the Information and Broadcasting ministry to seek sweeping reforms in the country’s defamation laws. The guild urged the government to repeal provisions of the current defamation rules under which editors of newspapers and TV channels may be put in jail […]

Congress General secretary and son of Congress President Sonia Gandhi has made a statement in the Parliament today on the ongoing anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare. Rahul Gandhi, widely seen as Congress’ Prime Ministerial candidate after the term of Manmohan Singh, thanked Anna Hazare for “articulating” the anti-corruption sentiment of the people. “The real […]

The Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said she has received 7 to 8 proposals from the members of the house to hold discussions on the Lokpal issue. However, most of the requests, including those from senior congress leaders like Jagdambika Pal and Sandeep Dikshit are calling for a no-vote discussion, while two private members have […]

Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare may not be able to continue his fast for much longer as he is reported to be refusing water as well. Hazare had warned that if there had been police crackdown on his agitation, he would stop taking water as well. While Hazare could go on for several days without taking […]

Thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support and emotion from across the country, the government is learnt to have issued an order to release Anna Hazare. According to unconfirmed reports, the government has released a warrant for his release to the Director General of Prisons, Delhi. The order/recommendation has to be processed and agreed by […]

Retail prices increased by 6% in January, compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released by the government today. The increase in consumer prices was higher in rural areas (7%) compared to urban areas (4%), according to the data. As expected, the highest increase was in the prices of vegetables. Veggies […]

Google is the search king, but twitter is not far behind, going by the latest move by Firefox-maker Mozilla Foundation. A month after Twitter ended its search-agreement with Google, it has partnered with the Mozilla Foundation to bring the Twitter search feature to Mozilla Firefox browsers. Mozilla has even launched a special ‘Twitter edition’ of […]

The Central Government has not been able to get a large number of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to declare their assets, according to numbers from the Department of Personnel & Training. Despite a clear directive to the estimated 5,200 IAS officials — the back-bone of Central government bureaucracy — to declare assets by June […]