Strongly backing Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the "brutalities" perpetrated on farmers in Greater Noida villages, saying the state has descended into "anarchy and lawlessness".

The Thar desert is set to become the hub for solar projects which are expected to generate upto 2,100 gigawatts of solar power. Already 35,000-km land has been set aside for both PV and thermal solar farms which are being set up by small firms with plant sizes of as little as five MW.

Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily has assured the parliamentary consultative committee on law and justice that the government planned to implement legal reforms to provide people with an efficient and prompt justice delivery system, with lower pendency of cases.

The Congress on Wednesday strongly defended AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s claim that 74 mounds of ash containing human remains have been found in Bhatta Parsaul village of Greater Noida.

Thousands of affected people followed Punjab’s best known eco-activist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, on Wednesday, to block the intensely polluted Kala Sanghian Drain which is known to dump lakhs of tons of poisonous industrial effluents directly into the river Sutlej.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, served an ultimatum on the BSP government.
“Bhatta Parsaul is merely the beginning. Just see what we do in the future. We will fight from every village and turn them (BSP) out. There is no dearth of issues in UP and I have ample time. I will go to every nook and corner of UP this time,” he said while addressing the UPCC convention in Varanasi on Wednesday.

Pitching for the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) in the face of embarrassment caused to the government over the faulty inclusion of terror accused Wazhul Kamar Khan in the list of most wanted fugitives given to Pakistan, home minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said that he would like to believe that the establishment of the national database for counter-terrorism efforts would help the security establishment.

The Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta has written to UP chief minister Mayawati, recommending action against minister for minority welfare, Anees Ahmad Khan a.k.a. Phool Babu for misappropriation of legislators’ funds.

Within days of BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari being convicted for murder, another BSP MLA — this time also a former minister — has been convicted in an abduction and murder case.

Even before the defeat of the party at the hustings could sink in, a blame game seems to have begun in the DMK camp. According to sources, many in the DMK are of the view that former telecom minister A. Raja and Rajya Sabha MP and party chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi are responsible for the debacle as they disgraced the party in the 2G spectrum scam.