Matters have moved on since Congress spokesman Manish Tewari recently alleged that anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare “was corrupt from head to toe”. Mr Hazare had hit back saying his agitation would continue even if the government accepted his Jan Lokpal Bill in toto, and until his name was cleared of “corruption” charges.

Arch rivals Samajwadi Party and the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in UP are set for a showdown in Parliament next week on the issue of riots in Moradabad.

A tough road lies ahead for Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh to impress Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi with the draft Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR)

In a bid to make land being acquired for residential purposes more cumbersome, the government is all set to incorporate application of rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) clause on acquisition of land of 50 acres and more in urban areas.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report on the Commonwealth Games has termed the ambitious project of the city government of taking Tetra communication hand sets as “ill-conceived”. The CAG in its report has noted that “these expensive Tetra sets are, in effect, no more than mobile phones”.

Fear of a hung Assembly after next year’s state polls in Uttar Pradesh appears to be catching up with contenders, with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday dropping hints that his party

A legislative bill to put in place the mechanism to ensure that the polluted Yamuna in the city is cleaned remains one of the unfinished tasks of former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh who has now taken the charge of the Union rural development ministry and is now in the midst of drafting the Land Acquisition Bill.

“Make it large” appears to be the mantra of the Union minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh in his new stint. The minister is not only looking at scaling up scope and coverage of flagship schemes under his ministry, but also exploring ways for funding from international lending agencies in a big way.

Six years after the launch of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNAREGA), the Centre is soon to commission a first-ever third party evaluation of the flagship scheme in over 100 districts spread across the country. The exercise is tipped to be largest ever conducted to evaluate the performance of any of the scheme of the Central government.

Just a day after taking charge of the rural development ministry, Mr Jairam Ramesh ordered a reversal of his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh’s stand on proposed Land Acquisition Bill, and directed his officials to adhere to the recommendations made by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council. He said while there would be a