Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar today said the government should take note of Ratan Tata’s statement that India risked turning into a “banana republic” and cautioned against the excessive use of the CBI. Pawar’s statement came in the middle of a CBI crackdown on an alleged bribes-for-loans scandal involving several top financial officials and real estate players in Maharashtra. Another real estate project, which was once associated with Pawar’s relatives, has been...

Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas will send in his resignation to the President on Wednesday. With the Supreme Court and the Opposition piling up pressure on the Centre for the removal of the ‘tainted’ CVC, the government leadership has advised Thomas to vacate the post. Thomas continuance became untenable on Tuesday after the Supreme Court questioned his suitability to supervise CBI’s investigations into the 2G spectrum scandal. “He had justified the...

The new CBI director has promised to speed up investigations into corruption cases being handled by the agency in Jharkhand, including the ones faced by former chief minister Madhu Koda and pending fodder scam cases against RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Soon after assuming charge, the Jharkhand cadre 1974-batch IPS officer Amar Pratap Singh said he would ensure that these corruption cases got more attention. “We will see that investigations and trials...

The Centre today ordered a probe into the leak of lobbyist Niira Radia’s purported phone conversations allegedly tapped by the income tax department. The home ministry announced the probe on the same day Tata group chairman Ratan Tata moved the Supreme Court demanding action against people responsible for leaking the contents of tapes. The Radia tapes feature purported conversations she had with journalists, politicians and industrialists, including Tata. A home ministry spokesperson...

The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to raise the pension paid to Endosulfan victims who are unable to perform any form of wage labour from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000 a month. Briefing reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the other Endosulfan victims would be paid Rs.1,000 as pension. The pension would be made available to the victims through the Social Security Mission under...