Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata's plea seeking stopping of further publication of his taped conversations with Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia is likely to be opposed in the Supreme Court by an NGO which wants all the recorded conversations to be put in public domain. "We would make a plea in the apex court on Monday for bringing it to public domain all the tapped conversations between Radia and others," advocate Prashant...

Appreciating the country's commitment towards universalising health coverage for the people, health economist Robert Yates has said the country needs to increase its public spending on health either by health insurance schemes or taxation.“The entire exercise of constituting a high-level expert group on universal health coverage that India has undertaken has been done at an appropriate time when the economy is growing and the country is getting wealthier as a...

They show strategy of planting, killing stories, and blacklisting agencyThe new tapes reveal use or consideration of strong-arm lobbying techniquesVir Sanghvi defends conversation with Niira Radia as “sweet-talking” a news sourceThe contents of a fresh set of leaked phone conversations involving Niira Radia and her associates paint an alarming picture of the extent to which the influential lobbyist — whose clients include Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata — sought to...

Since the last few years, Prashan Bhushan, senior lawyer, has fired up the Indian political scene through his missionary legal practice.In the legal fraternity he is a loner because he is, always, on the wrong side of the power set up in New Delhi. In fact, when one meets the slow and soft-speaker, he hardly looks like a lawyer who is capable of shaking-up the government and its cronies.But, his...

The Union government on Friday strongly defended the interception of Niira Radia's telephones, saying that this was done because of a probe into complaints alleging that she "as an agent of foreign intelligence agencies" and was "indulging in anti-national activities." A joint affidavit filed by ministries of home and finance as well as the Income Tax department said, "A complaint was received by the finance minister dated November 16, 2007, inter...