-PTI   Taking action in the controversial Antrix-Devas deal, government has barred former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair and three other eminent space scientists from holding any government jobs. The action comes in the wake of the controversial deal in which a private company was allotted scarce S band spectrum by ISRO allegedly in violation of rules. Besides Nair, K Bhaskaranarayana, former scientific secretary at ISRO, K R Sridharamurthi, former managing director of Antrix,...

-PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office made its debut on popular microblogging site Twitter on Monday. The new media foray by the PMO comes in the wake of TV journalist Pankaj Pachauri taking over as Communications Adviser to the Prime Minister. "The Prime Minister's work should be in the public domain so that people know that the government is functioning for their benefit," PMO sources said. The Twitter account of the PMO...

Bench refuses to stay Karnataka High Court order In a major setback to the UPA government at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Karnataka High Court order for payment of minimum wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers and suggested that the government, instead of appearing adversarial, should resolve the issue through a consultative process. The only relief the government secured was...

-The Telegraph   Jhargaon holds out hope that success is possible, even in Jharkhand. Two years after it was chosen as a model, over 1,000 residents of this nondescript hamlet of Gumla, 110km from the state capital, want to junk their BPL cards. For, self respect does not allow them to be claimants of government dole. If self-sufficiency is their goal, the people of Jhargaon, in Toto panchayat of Gumla Sadar block, 10km...

Corruption has become a serious problem, defying solutions. To curb it, several measures are needed apart from the Lokpal bill, the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill and the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, otherwise known as the whistlblowers protection bill. The three bills, in their present form, do not appear capable of achieving the avowed objective. Like the Right to Information Act, these bills...