-Express News Service   The government today decided to create a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for backward minorities within the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in jobs and admission to educational institutions.   The political significance of the move lies in its timing just ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh. The sub-quota was one of the Congress’s 2009 poll promises, but it appears in the current context to be targeted...

-CNN-IBN   The Union Cabinet on Sunday cleared Food Security Bill. The bill will now be tabled in Parliament. Earlier, around 30 activists staged a protest outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence in New Delhi on Sunday evening demanding immediate passage of Right to Food Bill. A senior police official said the activists were detained and taken to police station. The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday but advanced to Sunday evening, sources said. The...

The government is going to make a final attempt to push Sonia Gandhi’s pet legislation, the Food Security Bill, at the Cabinet meeting this Sunday. Cabinet approval is vital if the Bill is to be introduced in Parliament within the few remaining days of this session. This could possibly be the last session before Assembly elections in five states. Food Minister K V Thomas told Business Standard, “We are trying to introduce...

-The Hindu   The government has announced that all rural development programmes, including the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, would be brought under the auditing ambit of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The outlay on rural development programmes during the current fiscal has been put at Rs. 88,000 crore. “You will be happy to know that for the first time the government has decided to bring all...

Two days after major opposition parties extended their support to the demand for a strong Lokpal (ombudsman) as proposed by the anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare during his one day fast at Jantar Mantar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati also offered her conditional endorsement. Mayawati on Tuesday rejected the Parliamentary Standing committee's report on Lokpal bill. She described the Lokpal report drafted by the committee...