The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council stood its ground on Wednesday and gave the go-ahead to an expansive Food Security Bill. Not relenting to the position the Prime Minister's Office and the Planning Commission had taken against a bill that could lead to a surge in subsidy, the NAC finalized the draft along the lines of the framework it had made public earlier. The government was expected to table its...
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Jean Dreze asks Sonia not to extend his NAC membership
-The Times of India National Advisory Council member and economist Jean Dreze has written to chairperson Sonia Gandhi requesting that he should not be considered for membership again after his one-year term finishes. Dreze, a vocal critic of the UPA leadership's views on the proposed Food Security Bill, is seen as one of the key architects of the social security programme that has led to a public battle between the...
More »CIC asks PMO to give info on corruption charges against Raja
-The Times of India The Central Information Commission has asked the Prime Minister's Office to make public charges of corruption against former telecom minister A Raja along with views of various officials on them expressed in the form of file notings. A RTI applicant had sought to know why Raja was kept in the Cabinet despite serious allegations of corruption against him. The information was denied to him by the PMO saying...
More »‘At the first meeting, Shanti Bhushan said something about how we are here, writing the Constitution afresh’ by Ravish Tiwari
Team Hazare has been very critical of the responses of the government representatives in the drafting committee. They even said the Lokpal had become a Jokepal. During the discussions, we did not want to do anything that would upset the applecart. We did not go to the media, except for Kapil Sibal who held a daily briefing. The Hazare team did not want a joint briefing. We agreed. We did a...
More »‘PMO turned blind eye to repeated warnings' by Sujay Mehdudia
“Government can no longer convince people its hands are clean” A former Union Revenue Secretary, E.A.S. Sarma, has accused the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) of turning a “blind eye” to his repeated warnings about “alleged irregularities” committed in auditing capital costs and allowing price and other concessions to the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in the KG basin and Cairn India in Rajasthan. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan...
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