-BBC   India's election authorities have put on hold a government decision to reserve a proportion of government jobs and seats in state-run education centres for minority groups. The quota - of 4.5% of jobs and seats - has been suspended until elections are held in five states next month. Critics say the Congress party announced the quota to woo Muslim minorities in the upcoming polls. Opposition parties had complained about the move. They accused the...

The Election Commission has decided to slap a show-cause notice on law minister Salman Khurshid for announcing 9% quota for minorities in UP in the event of Congress assuming power in the state. The Commission has prima facie found that he had violated the model code of conduct by issuing an appeal to voters along communal lines.  Even though Congress manifesto is set to formally promise 9% quota for minorities in...

After leaving its rivals in Uttar Pradesh, barring BJP, tongue-tied with its poll-eve announcement of 4.5% minority quota in central jobs, Congress has flashed yet another ace by wooing the community with the promise of 9% reservation, also within the existing 27% OBC quota, in state government jobs if voted to power.  The promise will be made in Congress' election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh. Salman Khurshid, who is part of the...

-The Times of India The Centre on Saturday announced a Rs 6000-crore package for the handloom sector, doubling the announced financial relief, in what is seen as an outreach to the weaver community with authorship of Rahul Gandhi ahead of crucial UP elections. The sop increased with the government including individual loan defaulters, who are not part of a cooperative for loan amnesty, and in giving incentive for timely payment of loans...

The activism of civil society against corruption has caught the imagination of many Indians. Arguments put forward by representatives of the civil society organisations (CSOs) can be summarised as follows: 'All - at least most - politicians, ministers, bureaucrats are corrupt. Voters are incapable of deciding what is good for them. The police, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, and all other agencies of the State...