Outlook, Open oppose any restraint on publication of conversations ‘Tapes essential for meaningful debate by Indian citizen'‘Intercepted materials not likely to be secrets of the state”Even as the Supreme Court permitted the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the Chennai Press Club and Jain Television to intervene in the petition filed by industrialist Ratan Tata, the Outlook and Open magazines — which published the conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia —...

On the closing day of the winter session of Parliament, in which a united Opposition targeted the Congress, not even sparing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the 2G spectrum scam issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi came out strongly in his support.Addressing Congress Parliamentary Party members here on Monday, Ms. Gandhi said nothing should be done to “denigrate the institution of Prime Minister.”“Our government has nothing to hide. Our government has...

The CPI(M) today said the government has "no mandate" to negotiate the Indo-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) without consulting Parliament and Political Parties as it would adversely affect the economy and large sections of the people. Maintaining that negotiations on FTA "till date have been conducted under a veil of secrecy", it claimed that the Government has in the past signed agreements that "affect large sections of the people adversely...

Since the last few years, Prashan Bhushan, senior lawyer, has fired up the Indian political scene through his missionary legal practice.In the legal fraternity he is a loner because he is, always, on the wrong side of the power set up in New Delhi. In fact, when one meets the slow and soft-speaker, he hardly looks like a lawyer who is capable of shaking-up the government and its cronies.But, his...

A row between the EU and India over the transit of generic drugs through Europe has been resolved, negotiators told Reuters news agency.As a result of the deal at an India-EU summit in Brussels, an Indian complaint to the World Trade Organization will be suspended, India's trade minister said.But some fear the free trade agreement (FTA) at the core of the summit will hurt generic drug production.The FTA, one of...