Manmohan Singh government's high-risk move in evicting Baba Ramdev from the Capital after a midnight police raid on his camp at Ramlila Maidan here has brought together rival factions of civil society, besides exposing the Centre and Congress leadership to sharp attacks from political opponents. Just hours after the dramatic police raid on Ramlila Maidan, Anna Hazare's camp announced that they would boycott the meeting of the joint Lokpal panel scheduled...

No one’s buying the government’s desperate arguments to keep the prime minister above Lokpal scrutiny Points Of Friction   Government and civil society representatives have sparred on the question of including the prime minister in the proposed Lokpal Bill on seven key grounds: Point: The Prime Minister is accountable only to Parliament, and to the people of India Counterpoint: Does this mean a PM can never face action for criminal liability, however serious the charge,...

-BBC   The Indian government has approved an ambitious scheme to provide affordable housing to millions of slum dwellers. The plan is expected to benefit 32 million people in 250 cities and aims to give property rights to the owners of the houses built under the scheme. A CABinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has approved the first phase of the scheme, Home Minister P Chidambaram said. The scheme aims to check...

-Express News Service   In its bid to push for the inclusion of secondary education till Class 10 under the Right To Education (RTE) Act, the HRD Ministry in its proposal to be placed before the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting next week, has cited examples from around 85 countries ranging from the US to Djibouti and Palestine that have extended the years of compulsory education. It also talks about...

-NDTV   What began as a peaceful process of negotiations between the Government and yoga icon Baba Ramdev has now broken out into a hostile exchange between both sides. Each side is now accusing the other of reneging on the agreements reached in discussions over the last two days. The government says it has written proof that Mr Ramdev and his supporters had reached an agreement and would call off their fast....