The BJP on Sunday attacked the BJD government in Orissa on alleged “distress sale” of paddy and rise in the incidence of farmer suicide in the state.

The main Opposition Congress on Sunday went for a show of strength and started its election campaign for the coming Madhya Pradesh Assembly election by launching a scathing attack on state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a huge rally here, which happens to be the chief minister’s home turf in neighbouring Sehore district.

Despite repeated reminders, 30 Rajasthan ministers and MLAs have been not paying the party’s mandatory annual contribution. The Congress took strong exception to the defaults by public representatives and indicated those who would not make contributions to the party fund, as per the Manmohan Singh Committee’s recommendations, would face action.

The UPA government is set to launch a massive nation-wide campaign to elicit the benefits of food security programme. With several states going to the polls later this year and the country set for general elections in less than a year, the UPA hopes its food security scheme to be the game-changer.

A day after UPA chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi deliberated with chief ministers of the Congress-ruled states over the implementation of the food security law, five such states are on the way to roll out the ambitious scheme in August. Along with Delhi and Haryana, which are set to roll out the schemes on August 20, Karnataka, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have joined the race to launch the ambitious programme next month.

CBI investigations into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case are now focusing on whether she and Javed Sheikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, were killed on instructions of top officials of Intelligence Bureau as the two were eyewitness to the surrender of Amjad Ali Rana who was killed in the same encounter.

The top court has said that the ownership of minerals should be vested with the owner of the land and not with the government. A three-judge bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha said that there is no law in the country which declares that the state is the owner of sub-soil or mineral wealth.

Deportation of Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia may be delayed for few more days with Dhaka yet to finalise the date to hand over the custody of insurgent leaders to its counterpart in New Delhi.

Expressing concern over the apparent moves in Sri Lanka to dilute and even repeal the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution as it promised some rights and powers for the Tamils in the island, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa has urged the Prime Minister to “decisively take a bold stand” instead of remaining a “passive bystander” to their subjugation by the Sinhala regime.

The Punjab Women Commission chairperson is in soup for alleged remarks about daughters-in-law responsible for the break-up of the joint family system. Ms Paramjit Kaur Landran, who happens to be chairperson of Punjab Women Commission, kicked up a row by her recent statement with several women’s organisations demanding her resignation.