The Madhya Pradesh government’s hopes that the Union Carbide plant structure be converted into a memorial dedicated to victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster has been shot down by the nine-member GoM chaired by home minister P. Chidambaram.

BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani on Thursday said US did not inform Pakistan about its operation against Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad, as it did not trust the Pakistani authorities. Mr Advani, writing on the issue in his blog, said Bin Laden could not have been hiding in Pakistan without the knowledge of the country’s Army and intelligence chiefs.

Trying hard to battle the label of being a scam-ridden government, UPA-II now appears to be going all out to shrug off this label.
So the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) issued a statement on Thursday informing that India has recently completed the process of ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

All police personnel in Punjab have been re-designated as “officers” irrespective of whether they hold the rank of a constable or director-general police.
Drawing from the recommendations contained in the draft version of the New Punjab Police Rules, the DGP, Mr P.S. Gill, on Thursday signed an order that designates

The Rajasthan government has suspended three revenue officers (tehsildars) in alleged sale of huge lands in the desert region of Rajasthan on forged documents. The government also imposed a ban on “any where registration” in three tehsils of Jodhpur, which are adjacent to the border districts.

The protests against land acquisitions by farmers in Greater Noida turned into a full-blown political war on Thursday after the arrest of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday night with the BJP too sending senior leaders into UP to express solidarity with the farmers. UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati hit back at the Congress, calling Mr Gandhi’s dharna “mean theatrics’ and saying the Opposition parties were playing dirty politics and trying to malign her image and her party.

The government and the Congress Party have unleashed an attack on Murli Manohar Joshi to discredit him as the chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee against the backdrop of the draft report he sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on the 2G spectrum scam. The government’s main objection has been on Dr Joshi’s

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has threatened to pull out of the US-led war on terror unless the US takes “drastic steps” to restore the trust of 180 million Pakistanis.

The Congress launched its campaign for Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll even before the results of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry Assembly elections are announced. The Sonia Gandhi-led party is building up the campaign against the Mayawati government on the issues of law and order situation, violence against farmers and corruption in the state.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly election, which saw less rhetoric and more cash-flow, carries the highest stakes in the recent political history of Tamil Nadu. If winning a record sixth term is important to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi to ensure a smooth transition of leadership to his long-waiting prince, Mr M.K. Stalin, the stakes have risen sharply after the 2G scam threatened to swallow his daughter, party MP Kanimozhi. He can ill afford losing this vote-count.