New Delhi: Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal skipped a Cabinet meet at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence on Thursday even as Law Minister Ashwani Kumar attended it. Both Bansal and Ashwani are under fire over the Railway Board bribery case and the coal scam probe respectively.
Sources had earlier said that the Congress wanted the PM to decide on Ashwani's fate. Sources said the PM was seriously considering the possibility of replacing Ashwani.
The PM met President Pranab Mukherjee and discussed the political situation. But before that meet, there was high drama as Ashwani Kumar turned up at the PMO, but was denied a meeting with Manmohan Singh.
Earlier in the day, Attorney General GE Vahanvati met the PM. Vahanvati had told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that he met CBI officials over the coal block report at the Law Minister's instance....
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06:12 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday signed the Criminal Law Amendment Bill which gives India a strong anti-rape law. The Criminal Law Amendment Bill was earlier passed by the two Houses of Parliament. The massive public anger and uproars following the December 16 gangrape of the Delhi braveheart forced the drafting and eventual passing of this new Bill. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013 was moved in the Rajya...
12:58 PM, Apr 03, 2013
The Cabinet at its meeting in the evening on Monday agreed to raise the age of consent to 18. The new legislation was cleared after the Cabinet failed to achieve consensus on the anti-rape bill at the two all-party meetings held on Monday. Emerging from the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that the Cabinet had agreed to raise the age of consent and also made some changes to the Bill,...
07:26 PM, Mar 18, 2013
There is headway in the anti-rape Bill draft, which is all set to be cleared by the Cabinet after much debate within the ministries. The Cabinet will take it up on Thursday evening. ...
03:47 PM, Mar 14, 2013
After differences in the Cabinet over the proposed changes in the new anti-rape Bill, the government has finally made some headway. A Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram is likely to finalise the Bill for Cabinet approval on Wednesday. ...
11:17 AM, Mar 13, 2013
The Cabinet has yet again deferred the anti-rape ordinance due to lack of unanimity. A group of ministers along with lawyers will now look into the points of differences and will come back to the Cabinet. ...
11:01 AM, Mar 12, 2013
The Delhi gangrape case of December 2012 triggered the government's proposed new anti-rape law. The Cabinet is likely to take up the new law on Tuesday. But consensus has eluded the government specifically on clauses relating to the use of the term 'rape', voyeurism, and reducing the age of consent from 18 to 16 years. ...
08:36 AM, Mar 12, 2013
Differences, multiple opinions and oppositions yet again seemed to have delayed the Criminal Law Amendment Bill. The anti-rape Bill which promised strong legislation to curb crime against women, seems to be drowned under the Cabinet dithering. ...
11:20 AM, Mar 07, 2013
The Cabinet has given in-principle approval to a bill providing for time-bound delivery of services. This effectively means that bureaucrats will now have to face the music for delay in dispensing services like pensions, passports, caste certificates, ration cards, tax refunds and police procedures. ...
11:04 AM, Mar 07, 2013
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has criticised the government for not bringing the CBI and CVC under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. He said the government cheated on the public by not holding proper consultations. "I call it cheating because the government had issued a gazette and formed a committee which did not meet for even three months," Anna Hazare said. ...
03:18 PM, Feb 01, 2013
The Cabinet will meet on Friday to decide on a stringent law to deal with sexual harassment. Sources had indiacted to CNN-IBN earlier that the government was considering the feasibility of an ordinance instead of waiting for the Budget Session to legislate on the recommendations made by the Justice Verma Committee. ...
02:24 PM, Feb 01, 2013
A decision on raising diesel and LPG prices is expected on Thursday. Sources have told CNN-IBN that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to take a call on raising diesel and LPG prices at the cabinet meet on Thursday. ...
10:15 AM, Jan 17, 2013
New Delhi: The proposal to withdraw the amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act in 2006 has been accepted in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. With the proposed amendments dropped, the Right to Information Act will not be diluted much to the delight of social activists. The move came after Congress President Sonia Gandhi opposed the amendments. The amendment suggested was that the government exempts file notings from disclosure...
12:13 PM, Nov 01, 2012
New Delhi: The government will not go for amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act as mooted in July 2006, according to sources. The amendment suggested was that the government exempts file notings from disclosure except for development and social issues. The amendment also suggested that the exam selection process be exempted from the RTI ambit. The amendments were seen as dilution of the RTI Act and Congress President...
04:02 PM, Oct 31, 2012
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet will be meeting on Thursday and the pricing of excess spectrum is likely to be approved. The AG could be asked to come to Cabinet. Also on agenda are measures to control the spread of Japanese Encephalitis in UP and Bihar, the 78-day productivity linked bonus for railway employees and the Rajiv Gandhi pension scheme. The Cabinet is likely to consider a Rs 4,000-crore multi-pronged...
09:53 AM, Oct 18, 2012
New Delhi: Key UPA ally, the DMK is unlikely to attend the Cabinet meeting on Thursday as the party is not keen on hiking FDI in insurance sector. DMK leaders have cited prior programmes as reason to skip the meeting. The Cabinet is expected to clear 26 per cent FDI in pension and raise the cap in insurance to 49 per cent on Thursday. Currently, no foreign investment is allowed...
01:59 PM, Oct 04, 2012
New Delhi: The Opposition is already up in arms against more reforms by the UPA government as the Cabinet is expected to clear 26 per cent FDI in pension and raise the cap in insurance to 49 per cent on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is opposed to raising the FDI cap in insurance. The party has no objections with the 26 per cent cap, but is against raising...
01:40 PM, Oct 04, 2012
New Delhi/Mumbai: The Cabinet is expected to take a decision on the proposed pharma price control policy on Thursday, which has been in discussion since 2007. But five years, two GoMs and a Supreme Court deadline later, drug experts say there are major loopholes in it. The question is whether the new policy will cut down drug prices or will medical bills go higher up in the long term. The...
08:50 AM, Oct 04, 2012
New Delhi: The UPA government is set for a second push for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reform measures. The Cabinet is expected to clear 26 per cent FDI in pensions and 46 per cent in insurance on Thursday. Currently, no foreign investment is allowed in the pension sector and only 26 per cent FDI is allowed in insurance. The move on FDI in pension will need Parliamentary ratification as insurance...
08:20 AM, Oct 04, 2012
New Delhi: After FDI in retail, the Cabinet is likely give a push to another round of reforms on Thursday. The Cabinet will take up the long-pending insurance and pension bills on Thursday. The amended bills propose hiking foreign investment limit to 49 per cent from the present 26 per cent. Although the government had given its approval, it did not come up for discussion in the Monsoon session due...
03:50 PM, Oct 03, 2012
