Patna: Social activist and former National Advisory Council (NAC) member Aruna Roy on Sunday denied having spoken anything about the differences between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and blamed a section of media for twisting her remarks.
"I had not spoken anything like that (differences between the PM and Sonia)...I had merely said that there were two views (in the UPA government and the NAC) of which one talked about growth and market-related things and another view supporting social sector," she said at a lecture on the topic 'The Challenges of Transparency and Accountability in Indian Democracy'.
"My remarks were twisted by a section of media," Roy said, explaining her remarks before deciding to walk out of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi headed NAC of which she was a member for couple of years where she had played key role in drafting proposals for boosting the government's responsibilities towards the social sector. The former NAC member, who had played an instrumental role in enactment of the Right to Information Act (RTI) with some other social activists in the past decade, called for strengthening the landmark legislation and provision for compulsory dissemination of all informations related to the use of public money in order to usher in transparency and accountability in the Indian democracy.
"The democracy will survive only if we ensure transparency and accountability in our system and bridging the gap between what we say and what we do in public
09:45 PM, Jun 02, 2013
Aruna Roy - one of the most prominent and forceful voices within the NAC - has decided to opt out of Sonia's advisory council in its last crucial year. In NAC I, Roy played a critical role in framing and pushing through key legislations like the MNREGA and the RTI. These are legislations that the Congress party hardsells to both voters and political competitors even though it has done little...
11:36 PM, May 30, 2013
Social activist Aruna Roy has quit the National Advisory Council, accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of overruling Sonia Gandhi on issues like paying minimum wages under the NREGA. ...
11:31 PM, May 30, 2013
New Delhi: Social activist Aruna Roy, who has decided to dissociate herself from Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, on Thursday hit out at government saying it was focussing on economic reforms and growth at the cost of poor people. Roy, who has attacked the Prime Minister for rejecting a proposal of NAC to raise minimum wages under MGNREGA, said pro-poor issues have been pushed to the back burner by the...
05:10 PM, May 30, 2013
Activist Aruna Roy has opted out of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council and she has blamed the Prime Minister for blocking minimum wages under the MNREGA. ...
12:51 PM, May 30, 2013
New Delhi: Social activist Aruna Roy has opted out of the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi-led NAC after her term expired on Friday. She has blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for blocking minimum wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). "I do believe that it is extremely unfortunate that the Prime Minister rejected the NAC recommendations on payment of minimum wages to MGNREGA workers and chose instead...
12:26 PM, May 30, 2013
New Delhi: The notification issued by the Prime Minister's Office on May 27 to extend the terms of members of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has one prominent name missing from the list - that of Aruna Roy. The terms of the ten other members has been extended for a period "co-terminus" with the term of the present Government. Professor Virginius Xaxa of the Delhi School of Economics is the...
09:26 PM, May 28, 2013
As outrage continues against the death of the Delhi braveheart, the victim of a brutal sexual assault, the Congress has decided to propose a tougher law to check crimes against women which could include a provision like chemical castration of perpetrators of rape in rare cases. ...
02:19 PM, Dec 30, 2012
New Delhi: The government has reconstituted the National Advisory Council(NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi by dropping three members and inducting two new faces. Mihir Shah, Member, Planning Commission, and Ashis Mondal, founder of the Bhopal-based NGO, Action for Social Advancement, have been inducted in the advisory panel for a period of one year. Noted agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan, bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander and academician Madhav Gadgil have been denied renomination. The...
01:42 PM, Jun 29, 2012
Yet again, in 2011, Sonia Gandhi features in the top 20 of the Forbes Power list. How did a girl, born in a small town in northern Italy, rise to the position of being one of the most influential people in the world - and stay there, year after year? Having established an unassailable position in the Indian National Congress Party, she is now empowering her son Rahul with more...
02:38 PM, Nov 29, 2011
New Delhi: National Advisory Council (NAC) Member NC Saxena has defended the petrol price hike by saying it will not have any major impact on inflation. However, some experts are of the opinion that it was unwarranted. "The impact of hike in petrol prices on inflation will be marginal. Our transport system entirely depends on diesel. Petrol is consumed by 5 per cent of India's population. They are the people...
03:11 PM, Nov 06, 2011
New Delhi: The National Advisory Council, led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, is set to meet on Friday to discuss the pre-legislative process for making law on a proposed program for urban poor. The meet is also likely to discuss some issues concerning child labour and the denotification of tribals. This will be the first meeting of the NAC since Sonia's recovery from ill-health. ...
07:27 AM, Oct 21, 2011
New Delhi: Amid a raging controversy over land acquisition norms, Government has firmed up the draft of a new bill which makes consent of 80 per cent of land owners mandatory before purchase of land. The new draft Acquisition Bill, which is expected to be unveiled in the next few days, includes recommendations of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) and goes even a step further. "In many ways it...
06:13 PM, Jul 24, 2011
New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said he was happy and satisfied with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi's letter, assuring him that she does not support or encourage the politics of smear campaign. "Sonia Gandhi has written to me. I was happy to read her letter that she never supported nor will support those who are attacking me," Hazare told a news channel. Hazare in his...
12:56 PM, Apr 21, 2011
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not be aware of Anna Hazare's power to get his demands met through his "indefinite fasts". He should probably ask his cabinet colleagues Vilasrao Deshmukh or Sushil Kumar Shinde or even Shiv Sena MP Manohar Joshi. All of them, as chief ministers of Maharashtra, had to bowed to Hazare's demands one time or another. Till the 1990s, Hazare was known only as a...
03:31 PM, Apr 06, 2011
New Delhi: An act to create effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre so that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers. 1. Short title and commencement: (1) This Act may be called the Anti-Corruption, Grievance Redressal And Whistleblower Protection Act, 2010. (2) It shall come into force on the one hundred and twentieth day of its enactment. 2. Definitions:- In this Act,...
12:40 PM, Apr 06, 2011
Speaking to CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai, veteran social activist Anna Hazare said, "I will continue to fast till the government does not draft the Lokpal Bill." ...
09:30 PM, Apr 05, 2011
New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday termed the indefinite hunger strike by social activist Anna Hazare for a stronger Lokpal Bill as premature, saying the government had already constituted a panel headed by Defence Minister A K Antony to go into the issue. "The Prime Minister has already constitued a sub-committee headed by Antony. When the process was already on, then adopting such a path is perhaps not appropriate, probably unnecessary....
06:43 PM, Apr 05, 2011
New Delhi: Under the Lokpal Bill in its current form, the Lokpal cannot investigate the Prime Minister on issues of defence and external affairs, nor does it have any jurisdiction over Parliamentarians. Apart from activists, putting pressure on the Government is National Advisory Council, which is taking a keen interest in the Bill. Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has made his intent clear. "I will go on a fast and will...
11:11 AM, Apr 05, 2011
The unique identity (UID) numbers being issued with much fanfare have no legal sanctity. This may surprise many who casually know about the UID scheme and believe it represents a progressive and transparent new India. The problem is, the Bill which proposes setting up an Authority mandated to issue such numbers was introduced in Parliament only in December 2010. This is yet to even face the routine Standing Committee scrutiny....
05:34 PM, Jan 13, 2011
