Four deadly cobras among 40 snakes unleashed by farmers in latest anti-corruption protest in northern India Two farmers fed up with bribery demands have dumped three sacks filled with snakes on the floor of a busy tax office in northern India. The 40 or so snakes of different sizes and species, including at least four deadly cobras, sent clerks and villagers climbing on to tables and scurrying out of the door to...

-The Times of India   Use of red light beacons atop cars and an upgrade in the warrant of precedence to serial number 17 from 21 at par with chief justices of high courts outside their jurisdictions and chairpersons of statutory bodies are part Lok Sabha's privileges committee's latest recommendations. In its report tabled on Wednesday, the committee suggested that the highways ministry be asked to issue a notification under the Central Motor...

-The Telegraph   Stress strikes the pupils of a Murshidabad school every day not because of impenetrable syllabus or unsparing teachers but because they fear the Padma river can rise up and engulf them any minute. All it took for a wave of panic to crash in today was the rattle of tin cans on a truck and an exclamation from a teacher, which triggered a stampede in which 20 children were injured. The...

-PTI The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal bill has recommended keeping out judiciary and MPs' conduct in House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction. Members have unanimously recommended conferring constitutional status on the Lokpal and setting up of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in states under one legislation. The draft report on the Bill, which has been...

The Planning Commission has received a sweeping set of recommendations that proposes free health care and medicines for diverse needs to all Indian citizens, irrespective of economic means. Whether or to what extent the proposals — described as “even bigger” than the UPA’s blockbuster job scheme — will be accepted will depend on the political and executive leadership. If the government throws its weight behind the initiative, it will effectively mean...