The state of Ohio in the US had banned outsourcing by government departments to offshore locations like India. The US have also increased the H-1B and L1 visa fees which are highly sought after by Indian IT professionals to fund a $600 million programme to secure its border with Mexico. The Indian IT and software association, NASSCOM, has called these moves as regressive steps and anoth
It was a shocking spectacle to see our sports minister MS Gill physically push out Satpal Singh, a wrestling icon, coach and mentor of Sushil Kumar who he was trying to honour for winning the first ever world championship gold in Moscow by posing with him for photographs. He did no better by asking around for Kumar’s other coach who had accompanied him to Moscow, Yashvir, from whose
It is understandable that the armed forces are unwilling to let go the extraordinary powers and protection that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) provides in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. It is also understandable that there could be difference of opinion in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting which met last Monday to decide whether to withdraw such powers to cool the
Almost one-third of us Indians are "utterly corrupt" and half are "borderline", according to Pratyush Sinha, who retired last week as central vigilance commissioner (CVC). He blames the rising corruption on the rise of wealth and materialistic lifestyle. "When we were growing up I remember if somebody was corrupt, they were generally looked down upon. The
Like much of the rest of the world, India has chosen the industrialisation path to progress, at the cost of agriculture. This trend has only accentuated since 1991, when Manohan Singh became the finance minister. On Monday, interacting with a group of editors, he stressed this approach and said: "The only way we can raise our heads above poverty is for more people to be taken out of agricu
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the Supreme Court should not step into the realm of policy formulation. He said this in a meeting with select editors, a week after the Supreme Court directed the government to distribute food free to the poor rather than let it rot. Few would disagree with the prime minister`s assertion that it is not the job of the judiciary to formulate policy.
Telecom secretary PJ Thomas is set to take charge as the chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) from tomorrow, notwithstanding a note of dissent from the leader of ipposition, Sushma Swaraj. She is part of the three-member panel that selects the CVC. Swaraj is learnt to have objected to Thomas’ candidature saying that the officer’s name figured in the palm oil scam in Kerala som
Few images can possibly be as surreal as that of Sonia Gandhi filing a nomination paper for her re-election as Congress party president. "Why four times, she could be the party president 40 times if the party wants," Janardan Dwivedi, a general secretary of the party said in response to the Bharatiya Janata Party`s suggestion that she should offer the position to someone from outside
Switzerland has signed an agreement with India that will allow Indian agencies to access details of Indian money stashed abroad. This is part of the Swiss drive to bring transparency in the working of its notorious banks after US president Barack Obama forced Swiss banking authorities to reveal the names of tax evaders. The unaccounted money in tax havens abroad figured in the de
The prime minister came, the prime minister saw, the prime minister conquered his urge to stay clear of the disaster that has been the preparation for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Redouble efforts to quickly complete the work, he said in no uncertain terms to the officials who accompanied him during his visit to the not-yet-ready Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, barely 34 days before the
Our parliamentarians are overworked and underpaid, so grossly underpaid that (in the words of Congress MP Rajiv Shukla) they get less than a clerk of the government. Mere Rs 16,000 a month is their salary – a constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 of course goes to the constituency and an office expense allowance of an equal amount obviously goes to maintain office. They badly need a pay hik
Prime minister Manmohan Singh can be faulted for many things but not when it comes to dignity. And that is one value he spoke of in his Independence Day speech. Addressing the nation, he said: “Criticism has a place of its own in a democracy and in a progressive society. However, criticism should not be undignified.” While he was particularly referring to “harsh
For the Congress, the dead certainly seem to be expendable, at least in zealously safeguarding the image of another. In this case, former prime minister late P V Narashima Rao and former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh late Bramhaswaroop are the expendables servicing former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi`s `image` in public. After the recent court verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy,
For Indians still young enough to believe that the parliament is bound by the constitution to hold the government responsible for its sins of commission and omission, the debate on Commonwealth Games in Lok Sabha on Monday might have felt profoundly unsettling. On the face of it, a parliamentary debate on anything of public concern and public interest is reassuring; it gives you a pleas
In the matter of P D Dinakaran vs Sikkim (strictly an opinion-trial and not a legal one), one could say that it is the government and governance that should be put on trial. With corruption charges stacked sky-high against him, Dinakaran was not deemed fit for the Karnataka High Court by the state`s bar association. The government, in the absence of a precedence in such a matter, transf
"I am very happy with the rains, firstly because it will ensure a good agriculture for the country and secondly because it will ensure that the Commonwealth Games are spoilt," said Mani Shankar Aiyar, the former minister for youth affairs and sports, in one of the developments on status of the Games unfolding before the country in recent times. Though everyone is talking about non com
The government blamed the opposition when the latter stalled the parliamentary proceedings last week and when the stalemate was over and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj stood up in the Lok Sabha to begin the discussion on the crucial issue, no leader from the government turned up: the prime minister, the leader of house (who is also the finance minister), the petroleum minister and even the
Gujarat chief minister has said that the centre is treating the state like an `enemy-nation`. While the phrase may sound like an exaggeration, does it have ring of truth? As reported by the Hindu, Modi has claimed that shifting trials of cases from the state`s courts to elsewhere was tantamount to insulting the judicia
Bethany High School, Bangalore may just have the lessons in discrimination no one needs. The school, in a circular to parents, has said that the right to education binds it to set aside 25 percent of its seats for students from economically weaker sections (EWS), and that such a practice will be "detrimental to the psyche of all children, yours and the others" and the school, well, &q
The week is nearly over and the monsoon session of parliament is yet to begin as the opposition continued to stall the proceedings for the third consecutive day. The issue of skyrocketing prices is no doubt very serious and who is going to put the government on the mat if not the opposition? But the opposition parties, which joined hands this month to stage a nationwide shutdown
