The lone Indian activist on the 2011 TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Aruna Roy has been more successful than most,  when it comes to getting the government’s attention. The Chennai-born former bureaucrat who was an instrumental force behind the revolutionary Right to Information Act has also been credited by the government for “incorporating strong citizen entitlements” in the ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). A constant...

Central government officials will not be empanelled for promotions if they fail to meet the deadline for submitting their annual property returns to the government. The Centre, in an office memorandum issued today, has instructed central secretariat service officers to submit annual immovable property returns for the calendar year 2011 by the end of this month. Officers, particularly class ‘A’ officers, “who do not submit the property returns by the prescribed time...

-The Telegraph The stage is set for tomorrow’s talks between Dispur and the anti-big dam brigade. The lead players are, however, keeping their cards close to their chests. Sources in the chief minister’s office said the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) and the Mising Mimag Kebang (MMK) had welcomed the group of ministers’ offer for talks...

It’s not only the Calcutta business chambers that have come out in support of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (Ficci) reproachful stand on the way the Bengal government is handling investigations into the AMRI fire tragedy. Closer home, Federation of Jharkhand Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) also feels that the police action against seven directors of AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria, “was not completely non-discriminatory”. A day after Bengal...

After a little over two months of lull following the Allahabad High Court’s verdict in the Noida and Greater Noida land acquisition case, farmers’ groups are set to join the existing case before the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the apex court issued notices to the state government and the Greater Noida Authority (Gnida) as to why the recent HC ruling in the case should not be quashed. This was on a petition...