The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted its preliminary report on Netai killings before the Calcutta High Court in a sealed envelope on Friday. The Calcutta High Court had ordered that the investigation into the carnage at Netai where nine villagers were killed be handed over to the CBI from West Bengal's Criminal Investigation Department on February 18. The two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Jaynarayan Patel and Justice Asim Kumar Roy had...

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has been able to convey the impression that the agricultural sector was a key area of policy focus for his budget, but just about. He has chosen some good policies and programmes to boost agricultural development, but has done so in a half-hearted manner. Whether the agricultural sector actually benefits from his attention remains to be seen given that he has been niggardly in the...

Unlike the 2G telecom scam which he blamed on compromises required for running a coalition government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accepted responsibility for the Supreme Court striking down the appointment of P J Thomas as chief vigilance commissioner. "I respect the judgment of the Supreme Court and I accept my responsibility," the PM said in Jammu on Friday, admitting that the buck stopped with him since the CVC decision did...

The Plan allocation for school education, especially for Right to Education (RTE), has seen a 40 per cent increase over last year. But the actual allocation is only a third of what should have gone for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan under the funds committed under the RTE Act. The RTE commitment of Rs 2.33 lakh crore to implement the Right to Edcuation was approved by the Planning Commission, by the ministry and...

No ads on government achievements at the cost of exchequer The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Chief Electoral Officers of Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry, where Assembly elections have been announced, to direct the district election officers (DEOs) to immediately constitute district-level committees to monitor and investigate paid news. The committees should scrutinise all newspapers to locate political advertisements in the garb of news coverage appearing during the...