“Draft Lokpal Bill will be introduced in monsoon session of Parliament” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday accused social activists Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev of trying to “dictate” terms to the Centre and “weakening” parliamentary democracy by threatening an indefinite fast to get their demands accepted. At a press conference here, Mr. Mukherjee also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for backing the anti-graft movement in a bid “to capture...

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said that the ordinance issued by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal to reclaim 400 out of 997.11 acres of land at the abandoned small car project site of Tata Motors at Singur was “unconstitutional” as the Assembly was then in session. A special session of Assembly was convened on May 30 to elect the Speaker, and the House was given...

Its elimination is an international obligation, but there is a long way to go to meet the goal While governments and civil society commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, over 20 crore children are still engaged as child labourers. More than half of them face the worst forms of child labour. Though India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of child labourers, this...

Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...

-The Hindu   A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that her government had issued an ordinance to reclaim the land at Singur that had been acquired for the since-relocated Tata Motors small car project, a delegation of Left Front legislators met Governor M. K. Narayanan here on Friday to point out that according to the Constitution an ordinance could not be promulgated when the Assembly was in...