Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday moved a motion in the Lok Sabha for the appointment of a 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee to go into the 2G spectrum issue. The 20 members from the Lower House who would be in the JPC were named. The names of the remaining 10 who would represent the Upper House would be announced on March 1, when the House officially joins the JPC. The JPC...

The government will announce a 30-member joint parliamentary panel with terms of reference expected to cover the period of the execution of the first-come, first-served policy for telecom licences including the opposition NDA's term in office. The committee is expected to submit a report in six months but sources were doubtful if this might be sufficient. The announcement on the JPC, its membership and terms is to be made on Thursday...

“Government callous to plight of people groaning under spiralling prices of food items” Nine political parties, including four Left parties, on Thursday announced a week-long nationwide agitation against price rise. The United Progressive Alliance government was callous to the plight of people groaning under spiralling prices of food items, they alleged. “We have decided to jointly conduct a week-long agitation against the price rise from February 3 to 9. During the...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured a delegation of TDP-Left parties combine that he would look into the issue of alleged suicide by farmers in Andhra Pradesh who were severely affected in the unprecedented rains and cyclonic storm in the last few months in the State. The delegation highlighted the plight of farmers who were hit as their produce like paddy, cotton, tobacco, red gram, chillies and oil seeds were damaged/discoloured...

Chandrababu Naidu has managed to do outside the Andhra Assembly what he couldn’t within its four walls — train the national spotlight on the plight of farmers crippled by successive national calamities and inadequate compensation. The Telugu Desam president, who has been on indefinite hungerstrike at the new MLA quarters since Friday demanding higher compensation for farmers, was today forcibly taken into custody in the wee hours after a seven-hour drama...