Saying that the biotech bill is all 'wrong and retrogressive', Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioning him not to introduce the 'draconian' bill in parliament. In the letter dated March 11, of which IANS has a copy, the party's national secretary vehemently criticised the bill's main proposal to set up the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) under the ambit of...

Delhi Police may claim to be a "clean force" but figures tell a different story. Replying to a question in Parliament, the minister of state in the ministry of home affairs (MHA), Mullappallay Ramachandran, on Tuesday said 500 officers of Delhi Police had been arrested for various crimes in the past three years. Though the minister claimed number of crimes committed by police personnel is not rising, he refused to...

Rights activist Subash Chandra Agrawal has filed an application before the Central Public Information Officer, Prime Minister's Office (PMO) seeking complete information together with related documents/correspondence/file notings on the Congress president Sonia Gandhi's reported opposition for amendments to the Right to Information Act. Mr. Agrawal filed the application following reports about differences between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Ms. Sonia Gandhi on amendments to the RTI Act. There was stiff resistance...

For nuclear plant at Jaitapur, only site clearance is granted Environment and development have to be balanced Reacting to reports on Monsanto's admission of pest resistance to its transgenic cotton, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the issue needed to be properly examined. The Minister said he had also seen an earlier report from the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, which pointed out insect resistance...

The Supreme Court has refused to answer several queries filed under the right to information law on whether judges of the top court conversant with the affairs of Karnataka High Court had been consulted by the Chief Justice of India before a decision was taken to elevate Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran to the apex court. The collegium, headed by the Chief Justice of India, had recommended Dinakaran’s name to the...