The National Advisory Council, headed by Sonia Gandhi, today disapproved the exclusion of domestic workers from the purview of a proposed law for protection of women against sexual harassment at workplaces. The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha during the winter session, aims to prevent harassment of women at the workplace by implied or overt promise of preferential treatment or threat or interference in work through intimidation. The NAC, which discussed the...

The CBI's record in the Jain hawala case was disappointing. But there are powerful elements in favour of unravelling the truth in the 2G scam. On December 16, 2010, the Supreme Court (Justices G.S. Singhvi and Asok Kumar Ganguly, ) ordered a comprehensive and thorough investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate into what has become notorious as “the 2G scam.” The investigation, into spectrum allocation from...

Joint committee can help avoid delay and duplication of work: Jaiswal Seeking to put an end to duplication in work and fast-track the decision making process, Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to constitute a single Parliamentary Committee comprising members from both Houses to monitor the Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) fund scheme. In a letter to Ms. Kumar, Mr. Jaiswal stated...

Hidden behind all the administrative scandals that rocked India in 2010, illegal mining is an unnoticed beast that has been eating into the country's soul.   While corruption in spectrum allocation and the conduct of the Commonwealth Games are primarily about monetary loot, illegal mining is about invaluable non-renewable natural resources.   In at least five major states, there were more than 20,000 complaints of illegal mining filed, but the perpetrators carried on with...

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat today backed politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai on genetically modified crops, saying his remarks were in line with the party’s views. “What he has said is the understanding of the party. He (SRP) also explained why we are opposed to Bt cotton and Bt brinjal,” Karat told The Telegraph. Pillai told a seminar in Kerala that “it is superstitious to completely oppose” genetically modified seeds, a shift...