-PTI President Pratibha Patil's foreign visits have cost the public exchequer Rs. 205 crore, surpassing the record of all her predecessors. Since assuming office as the country's first woman President in July 2007, Ms. Patil has undertaken 12 trips covering 22 countries across four continents. She has four more months to go in her five-year tenure and a trip to South Africa is said to be on the anvil. A series of RTI...
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UNHRC: India dilutes censure motion before voting with West against Sri Lanka
-The Economic Times India on Thursday voted in favour of a US-sponsored censure motion against Sri Lanka in the 47-member UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The government's domestic political compulsions seems to have prevailed over the country's strategic interests. Twenty-four countries, including India, voted for the resolution and 15 against, while eight nations abstained. Among the countries which voted against the resolution were China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives. India's decision was...
More »The curious case of Vinay Rai by Aparna Viswanathan
On December 23, 2011, in a criminal case filed by Vinay Rai, editor of a Delhi-based Urdu daily called Akbari , the Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House, directed the Ministry of External Affairs to have summons served on over 21 websites based abroad on the grounds that offences of sale of obscene books and obscene objects to young persons and criminal conspiracy could be made out against these sites under sections...
More »“I just wanted the issue to be heard by a court of law” by Arpit Parashar
Meet Vinay Rai, the man who took Google, Facebook and 20 others to court for posting ‘objectionable content’ Sitting in a plush office in Noida, Vinay Rai, 39, says he is a troubled man these days. He claims he does not want to be seen as a social activist fighting for censorship of the internet social network websites and search engines Facebook and Google. He is the one ‘activist’ whose name...
More »Government's treasure trove: Gifts netas got, and what they took home by Hemali Chhapia
In the expansive corridors of the Ministry of External Affairs, there's an interesting 'section' that few citizens are aware of. It's the gift chest of the Indian government or the 'toshakhana', where ministers, bureaucrats and dignitaries are supposed to deposit all the gifts they receive on their trips abroad. The toshakhana stores some amazing presents, from jewellery, silverware and paintings to wine and even couture (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was, strangely...
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