-The Hindu Team Anna on Saturday concluded its programme of contacting political parties with a call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi ahead of Sunday's all-party meeting on the Lokpal Bill. Ms. Gandhi assured social activist Anna Hazare that she would convey his views to the government, according to Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, who was present at the meeting. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who headed the joint panel on the Lokpal...
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Land bill draft vetoes Mamata on govt role by Basant Kumar Mohanty
The Union rural development ministry has retained in the draft of an amendment a partial government role in land acquisition for private investors, vetoing the diametrically conflicting views of Mamata Banerjee and a panel headed by Sonia Gandhi. The draft finalised by the ministry to amend the land acquisition act has stuck to the 70-30 formula under which the private investor is expected to buy at least 70 per cent of...
More »Poles apart by V Venkatesan
The Joint Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee concludes its meetings without any agreement on major issues. ON June 21, as the five government representatives and the five civil society members of the Joint Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee ended their deliberations after exchanging their versions of the draft Lokpal Bill, the battle lines were clearly drawn. The government was in no mood to agree with the civil society members led by Anna...
More »Neoliberal Act by Anil Sadgopal
The Right to Education Act, which lacks a transformational vision, is geared to preparing foot soldiers for the global market. THE most encouraging and delightful news regarding school education in India since the pro-market reforms began in 1991 came from Erode district in Tamil Nadu recently. To be sure, it is neither about the World Bank-sponsored District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the 1990s nor about the internationally funded and...
More »“UPA indifferent to women's plight”
-The Hindu The inordinate delay on the part of the Congress-led UPA government in enacting laws to prevent sexual assault on women is taking a heavy toll and exposing them to various forms of violence, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and MP Brinda Karat said. Ms. Karat was here to participate in the 12th State conference of the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) which concluded on Wednesday. Later,...
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