A Tata DoCoMo television commercial that shows a maid trying to steal a cellphone has enraged domestic helps who have threatened street protests if the company does not apologise with another advertisement. An organisation for domestic helps in Delhi, the Domestic Workers’ Forum, first objected to the ad, part of a series of eight commercials which was launched on August 30. The commercial shows a maid stealing a mobile phone and hiding...

-IANS   Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the draft land acquisition bill is a "political bill which strikes a balance between social benefit and economic growth" and gave the "entire credit" for it to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Referring to the recent agitations over land acquisition in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi made "key contributions" in the draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill,...

The government on Wednesday introduced the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) Bill seeking to create two regulatory bodies as part of measures to strengthen safety at the country’s atomic power plants, fulfilling an assurance given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the aftermath of Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March. The government had said on 26 April it would draft a Bill to create an independent and autonomous regulator that...

Vidarbha Civil Society Collective and Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) have raised strong objections to provisions in the National Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill 2011 tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. They demanded that the Bill be redrafted to safeguard interests of the dryland farmers and other landowners. "The Bill has ignored all suggestions made by the civil society and farmer advocacy groups. A month ago the rural development minister Jairam...

-PTI   Lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Saturday said he has received a breach of privilege notice for his remarks against Parliamentarians, the second Team Anna member to get such a notice. Mr. Bhushan said he has been accused of using derogatory words against MPs and has been asked to file a reply. Terming the notice as “totally unjustified”, he told PTI that “speaking the truth in public interest does not amount to breach of...