There is nothing sinister or diabolic about Union minister Kapil Sibal’s latest argument regarding the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India pertaining to the loss to the exchequer from 2G telecom licences in 2007. The basic argument pertaining to the erroneous notion of “presumptive loss” has been made before and Mr Sibal’s arithmetic is credible. Too much need not be made about this being a ministerial...

Accusing Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal of “trying to whitewash” the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday said that the people of India would not buy the Minister's argument that the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (CAG) finding on the loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore was “utterly erroneous and without any basis.” “Now we understand why Kapil Sibal has been put in charge of...

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday described as “highly unfortunate” the Supreme Court judgment upholding the Kerala High Court order banning public meetings and rallies on roadsides. The ruling, coupled with earlier restrictions on demonstrations and strikes, did not augur well for a democracy, the party's Polit Bureau said in a statement. It was a common practice for Political Parties and other public organisations to hold meetings on roadsides. Since...

The headlines in the media, the constant talk of how deep corruption has sunk in our body politic and the nefarious role played by ill-gotten contributions to Political Parties is a spectre, haunting the public all the time. But why is the government still not persuaded to seriously consider enacting an effectively genuine Lokpal legislation to deal with this menace of corruption? If the draft of the Lokpal Bill 2010 is...

State's appeal against High Court order dismissed The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the judgment of the Kerala High Court prohibiting public meetings by the roadsides in the State. A Bench of Justice D.K. Jain and Justice H.L. Dattu dismissed an appeal filed by the State government against the judgment of the High Court and a subsequent petition seeking a review of the judgment. The Bench said it was not inclined to...