N.K. Singh, the Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha MP, “voluntarily” recused himself from participating in the proceedings of the parliamentary public accounts committee looking into the 2G spectrum allocations. His decision was made public today by PAC chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi after the panel questioned the editors of Outlook and Open magazines, which published the transcripts of the Radia tapes some months ago. Singh’s conversation with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia figured in...

Politicians admit breaking election law: ‘yes, that's the great thing about democracy' Politicians and their aides in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh admitted to violating election law to influence voters in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls through payments in the form of cash, goods, or services, according to a revealing cable sent to the State Department by Frederick J. Kaplan, Acting Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate-General in Chennai. In...

PAC member N.K. Singh recuses himself from meetings to avoid conflict of interest Two editors, Vinod Mehta of Outlook and Manu Joseph of Open magazine, told the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Monday it was their journalistic duty to place in the public domain the transcripts of tapped conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others which had a direct bearing on the 2G spectrum allocation scandal. After the meeting, PAC...

Outlook, Open editors to testify, question of N.K. Singh recusal open The Public Accounts Committee examining the CAG report on the 2G spectrum allocation affair seems to have made up its mind to examine the players featuring in, and connected to, the Radia tapes. On Monday it will start with two editors, Vinod Mehta of Outlook and Manu Joseph of Open, who were among the first to publish transcripts of tapped conversations...

Irom Sharmila, who has been on a fast unto death since November 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, is continuing her fast, to the chagrin of the government, even after her release on Thursday. Detained on the charge of attempting suicide, she can be legally held only for one year at a stretch and has, since 2000, been ritually released on the completion of each...