The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is upset that two important bills that would affect tribals have got the cabinet’s nod without incorporating suggestions given by the panel. “The ministries of mines and rural development failed to consult the NCST as mandated by the Constitution,” commission chairman Rameshwar Oraon told The Telegraph on Wednesday. Secretaries of both ministries had met Oraon, but what the NCST chief meant was the final drafts of...
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Debate over giving constitutional status to Lokpal by Smita Gupta
The Congress appears to have put the cat among the pigeons by suggesting that the proposed Lokpal Bill — currently before a Standing Committee of Parliament — be given constitutional status to give it more muscle. Taken aback, both the Opposition parties and the Team Anna have objected to the move, saying it is a ploy to delay the passage of the Bill as it would require a Constitutional amendment —...
More »Sea levels not rising: Swedish scientist
-The Hindu Contrary to prevailing scientific opinion, a Climate Change conference organised by the University of Mumbai and the Liberty Institute, New Delhi, and INSTUCEN India study centre on Friday claimed that the sea levels were not rising and carbon dioxide did not pose a special threat to the climate. Sea levels in the Indian Ocean were not rising and cities like Mumbai, islands like Maldives or Tuvalu would not be...
More »The Inconvenient Truth Of Soni Sori by Shoma Chaudhury
Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India's Naxal crisis than any official document can. AS I sit to write this, at 12.20 pm on 4 October 2011, an SMS pops up on my phone: “Soni Sori has been arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch.” The...
More »Team Anna rift? Santosh Hegde takes dig at Arvind Kejriwal
-The Times of India Cracks have appeared in Team Anna just a couple of months after they pushed the political class to agree to create a strong Lokpal and galvanized popular opinion against corruption, as members pursue their individual agendas. On Friday, Anna Hazare and other members of the group distanced themselves from their comrade Prashant Bhushan's advocacy to allow a plebiscite in Kashmir Valley on whether it should remain with India,...
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