Lavish hike likely in
salary, perks for MPs
Revision of pay, perks and other amenities for MPs was one of the Gujral Cabinet's first decisions last week.
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Bruised TMC wants to straighten out the Left and strengthen the Front
''Even after the Gujral government was sworn in, the Leftists have been acting like a super Cabinet,'' says one TMC leader.
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Pak govt halts funds for Jinnah film
While the government has withdrawn funding, it is permitting the use of official locales for shooting, and co-operating with the film unit in every other way.
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Enough evidence against Rao, Tewary, Chandra Swami in St Kitts case: CBI
CBI counsel C Sahay told Additional Sessions Judge Ajit Bharihoke that there was enough evidence to prosecute the accused under section 195 of the Criminal Procedure Code for criminal conspiracy.
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Patna high court reserves order on contempt notice for CBI chief
A division bench of the Patna high court on Friday reserved its verdict on whether contempt proceedings should be initiated against the Central Bureau of Investigation's director for not completing the probe into the conspiracy aspect of the fodder scam.
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Uniform civil code will divide the country on communal lines: Congress
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 1996, introduced by the BJP's Bhagwan Shankar Rawat in the Lok Sabha seeks to make civil laws common to all citizens throughout the country.
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House committee shoots down Republicans's 'no aid to India' move
''I feel it is wrong to put India, the world's largest democracy, in the category of Cuba, North Korea and Syria,'' one Congressman said.
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Singing swami renounces sanyas, weds lawyer half his age
It was not easy for the swamiji to quit his three decades of ascetic life to take to grahasthashrama and enjoy the pleasures of life. But it was love at first sight.
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India's first bone health programme launched in Lucknow
''It is a new milestone in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis which is fast acquiring an alarming position in the country,'' says Dr Ambrish Mithal, additional professor in the institute's department of endocrinology.
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Oust Farooq!
B K Nehru, then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, reveals why Indira Gandhi wanted to get rid of Farooq Abdullah in 1983, the aftermath of which is felt in the valley to this day. A revealing excerpt from his much acclaimed recent biography.
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MAY 3

The Smoking Gun
Prime Minister I K Gujral has yet to sanction CBI Director Joginder Singh's request to scrutinise classified defence documents in the Bofors case.
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Worried Kesri again postpones Congress polls
While senior Congress leaders, including Pranab Mukherjee, K Natwar Singh and Mani Shanker Aiyar said the schedule was rescheduled following requests from party MPs, there were indications that Kesri revised it for the second time because he feared some challenge to his position.
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What the Blair victory means for India
The new Labour government will do nothing to damage Indo-UK relations: Amberish K Diwanji reports from London.
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Bedlam in Rajya Sabha over Congress MP's views
S S Ahluwalia, the Congress and former Union minister, kicked up a storm in the Rajya Sabha on Friday when he accused the CBI officers handling the fodder scam of violating the central civil service rules.
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BJP wants all-party meet on petrol price hike
The party also says the proposed broadcasting bill should not be passed in haste.
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Broadcast bill by year-end, says new I&B minister
Jaipal Reddy made it clear that no section of the Bill cleared by the Cabinet earlier this week was ''sacrosanct'' and that it would be changed if it militated against the autonomy of the media or was contrary to national policy in any way.
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The Ageing of India
Four years hence, 71 million grey-haired, 60-plus veterans will walk this young country of ours. By 2016, this elderly population, growing at a rate of 3.55 per cent, would touch 113 million.
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MAY 2

Deploy Agni, Pronto!
A 42-member parliamentary committee has urged the United Front government to "build and deploy the indigenously-developed Agni missile immediately."
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Gujral contradicts Chidambaram on fate of Budget
I K Gujral and his new finance minister differ on their approaches to the Budget.
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Laloo's fate sealed, legal experts assure Gujral
Following Laloo Yadav's refusal to resign from his post, Gujral had sought legal opinion. "It is a matter of time before the needed sanction is obtained from the President" the experts are reported to have said.
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Gujral on Laloo: 'Who am I to take a decision?'
Meanwhile, Laloo Yadav remained defiant and demanded an all-party inquiry into the leakage of CBI documents.
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Saudia blames Delhi air traffic controller for mid-air collision
Saudia's counsel Lalit Bhasin said ''overworked staff and lack of proper infrastructure'' at the international airport in New Delhi were the cause of the accident..
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Zail Singh tried to oust Rajiv, says Rao
Former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao on Thursday affirmed before the Jain Commission that he was aware of moves to oust Rajiv Gandhi from the post of prime minister by the then president Giani Zail Singh.
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MAY 1

The Chinese Invasion
Heavily armed Chinese border security guards have intruded deep inside the Indian territory at Himachal Pradesh at least 13 times since January. The army is alarmed as government ignores the Chinese intrusions.
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'UF would have split into bits and pieces but for my intervention'
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in an exclusive interview to Rediff On The NeT.
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Gujral's ministry to be expanded on Thursday
Apart from the TMC ministers, S Jaipal Reddy may also be sworn in the new I&B minister.
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UF decides to drop scam-tainted minister from ministry
The United Front leadership has decided, in principle, to drop Union minister Chandra Dev Prasad Verma from the council of ministers after the Central Bureau of Investigation decided to chargesheet him in the multi-billion fodder scam.
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Indigenous software for LCA proves good
India's light combat aircraft has passed with flying colours a "vital stage" of its developmental process after a indigenously-developed software, the "control law", was tried on an US Air Force F-16 warplane, defence sources said.
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Sri Lanka: A chance for peace?
J N Dixit, the former foreign secretary, on the British initiative to resolve Sri Lankan's sectarian conflict.
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Broadcasting bill to usher in radical changes
A proposal approved by the Union Cabinet seeks the setting up of an independent broadcasting authority on the lines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
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Wanted, a legislation for refugees
Over 1.2 million refugees cohabit South Asia, yet refugee laws remain a most neglected area here. Despite the generosity the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation shows in granting asylum to refugees, none of its member countries have adopted a national legislation on the subject yet.
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Addicted to a cause
In New Delhi, a group of selfless women are fighting the evergrowing menace of drug abuse. Through counselling and emotional assistance to addicts.
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More and more Pak women fight back to end harrowing marriages
The human rights commission of Pakistan comes down heavily on marital violence, fake marriages and anti-woman laws.
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APRIL 30

Laloo's veiled threat
Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has threatened to break up the United Front if he is victimised
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Congress' gesture
Pranab Mukerjee said on Tuesday that his party would not move any amendments to the finance bill to save the UF government.
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Don't write against Maneka, Khushwant Singh told
The Delhi high court on Tuesday restrained the celebrated writer from writing on Maneka Gandhi till the disposal of her defamation suit against him.
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Court order in MPs' bribery case on May 6
The fate of P V Narasimha Rao, one of the accused in the JMM pay-off case, would be decided by a Delhi court on that day.
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Pak no threat, says Manekshaw
The Field Marshall has said Pakistan was too small to take on India
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APRIL 29

Sack Joginder: Laloo
The Bihar chief minister, under attack in the animal fodder scam case, takes on the CBI director.
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Laloo defiant, says he will not quit
The CBI decision, he says, is part of a "conspiracy" to dislodge him from power. He says he will reveal the conspirators's names after ten days.
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Laloo's allies gather in strength
... as his adversaries prepare to strike.
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Left seeks pro-poor changes in Budget
The Communists oppose opening up of the insurance sector among other things.
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'The minority cannot climb on the shoulders of the majority and say, ''All right, carry me" '
Continuing the Presidential candidate's exclusive interview to Rediff On The NeT.
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ISI training militants in Afghan for sabotage in Kashmir
Several pan-Islamist international terrorist groups in concert with the Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence are training militants in the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan to carry out subversive activities in Jammu and Kashmir, says a home ministry report.
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Moopanar will decide TMC's course of action before Wednesday
"The initiative has to come from Delhi," say Tamil Maanila Congress sources.
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President's decision to appoint Gujral against the spirit of the Constitution: Advani
Dr Sharma, the BJP leader said, did not make any serious offer to his party to form the government.
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JMM case: Order on summoning Kesri after framing of charges
A Delhi court said the order on summoning Congress president Sitaram Kesri as an accused in the JMM MPs bribery case would be announced only after the framing of charges in the case.
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Advanced jet trainers to be inducted during current Plan
The government has decided to manufacture the AJTs from the raw material stage itself.
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MTCR delays India's missile programme
Defence ministry sources said the missile programme's aim and objective is to design, develop and finally produce four missile systems.
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Foreign hostages kin accuses Kashmir locals of shielding militants
For the first time, the relatives directly accused the Harkat-ul-Ansar, which has all along denied involvement, of masterminding the abduction.
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India, Pakistan to work towards releasing prisoners
The Indian and Pakistani human rights commissions have agreed to expeditiously work together for the release of prisoners held by their respective governments.
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Benazir adds new twist to bloody MQM faction war
The former prime minister has joined the country's top intelligence agencies in opposing withdrawal of cases against leaders of Altaf Hussain's MQM faction.
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Where abusing god is a way of worship
The choicest, filthiest, foulest abuses roll off their tongues as they dance around the ritual rath with long bamboo poles in hands. Slowly, the steady flow of invectives rising in tempo, the procession moves towards river Gambhir...
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