-PTI The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal bill has recommended keeping out judiciary and MPs' conduct in House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction. Members have unanimously recommended conferring constitutional status on the Lokpal and setting up of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in states under one legislation. The draft report on the Bill, which has been...

A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday reserved order till December 1 on the appointment of an agency for a fresh probe into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. Since the State government did not press for handing over the case to the State police, the probe was now open to being assigned to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency, a reconstituted Special Investigation Team...

-The Times of India   Rural development ministerJairam Ramesh has written to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai seeking focused attention to the government's Rs 40,000-crore expenditure on MGNREGS, the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, and to evaluate funds utilization by states.  The minister has highlighted some deviations made by some states in his communication to the CAG, while requesting the auditor to make suggestions that could help the government "establish...

-PTI The Supreme Court today refused to quash criminal proceedings against former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman for allegedly receiving Rs one lakh bribe from undercover scribes to favour them in a 'fictitious' defence deal.  A bench headed by Justice A K Ganguly refused to interfere in the proceedings of the lower court, which is conducting the trial in the case, and dismissed the plea of the 72-year-old politician.  The court, however, made it...

My attention was drawn to “An Open Letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal” which was signed by thirty members of the civil society of Kolkata and Delhi. What disturbed me was the tone and tenor of the language used in the letter in denouncing Ms Mamata Banerjee’s bold initiative in inviting the Maoists of Junglemahal for a dialogue after “ceasefire”. May I ask with all humility who among the...