-The Hindustan Times The government and the parliamentary panel examining the anti-graft Lokpal bill have locked horns on whether public servants facing corruption charges should be given a chance to explain their position before any probe is initiated against them. The bill passed by the Lok Sabha in December last year provides for such an opportunity to be given, but the Rajya Sabha committee has warned that it will allow the corrupt...

-Outlook Alleging discrimination against SC, ST and OBC students at AIIMS, 54 MPs have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the matter, requesting him to seek a detailed report from the institute's administration. In a letter to Singh, the MPs also informed that AIIMS has not fulfilled the criteria for appointment of doctors and other medical staffs from backward communities, creating a backlog against these. "There are serious allegations of discrimination against...

-The Indian Express Chandigarh: Less than a week after Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited Jind in Haryana to visit the family of a rape victim, 30 MPs will be in Jind and Kaithal on October 17 to meet the families of Dalit rape victims. The gravity of the situation notwithstanding, the state government seems to have chosen this opportunity to impress the visiting MPs with its hospitality. Among the various duties assigned...

-Mainstream Weekly Intense and motivated propaganda, powerful national and international diplomatic pressure, verging on pure and simple arms-twisting of the kind the Third World has been facing for decades by means of the active role of the econo-mic hit-men in the policy establishments, huge cash-back lobbying, both in India and abroad, blunt attempts to bamboozle the persons holding key positions in India’s policy establishment through a combination of hissing and kissing...

-Outlook While some question my motives in seeking information on Rahul Gandhi's foreign trips, others say that parting with such information will jeopardize his security. Really?  I am really puzzled by some of the responses to my RTI regarding Rahul Gandhi’s foreign trips. One set of persons have echoed the arguments used by Congress spokespersons Manish Tiwari and Jayanti Natarajan questioning my motives for demanding information that “violates the privacy of Rahul Gandhi.”...