National News

A prominent Muslim outfit has asked Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to clear her stand on the Women's Reservation Bill after she neither opposed nor supported the Bill, but abstained from voting in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday evening.

Betraying the anxiety among MPs on how the women's reservation Bill will play out in their constituencies, the BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha today claimed "at least 70 per cent of MPs" were against the Bill while a senior BJP MP said he would defy any whip to vote in its favour even though his party had offered it "unequivocal support" in the Rajya Sabha.

A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announced action against those involved in corruption in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Congress presented details of serious anomalies in 10 districts and asked her to take action.

A day after a local lawyer filed a petition seeking a ban on the proposed BSP rally on March 15, another PIL seeking a change in the date of the rally was filed at the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday.

With her MPs not participating in the vote for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has effectively abandoned her election promises that she had made just 11 months ago.

The supporters of Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parisad (TMCP) and CPM-backed SFI clashed at two colleges — Jogesh Chandra Law College and Manindra Chandra College in Shyambajar — in Kolkata on Wednesday leaving several students injured.

The police forces of Jharkhand and West Bengal along with the central paramilitary forces have launched a joint offensive against Maoist rebels in the bordering districts of the two states.

A day after the Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh criticised her for being insensitive towards the plight of the families of victims of Mangarh ashram tragedy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh each for families of the dead and Rs 75,000 each for those seriously injured.

Former speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and leading lawyer Rana Kultar Chand died on Tuesday night at a private hospital in Chandigarh.

After Pakistan and Turkey, neighbouring Bangladesh has expressed the desire to emulate the example of West Bengal in modernising and upgrading its madrasa system.

Encouraged by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad and buoyed by Mamata Banerjee's surprise turnabout, prominent Muslim groups have begun an exercise to galvanise support for the sub-quota demand before the Women's Reservation Bill comes up in the Lok Sabha.

To ensure that children in the Naxal-hit villages of Sonebhadra and Mirzapur district get regular supply of micronutrient food, the state government's Department of Child Development and Nutrition (Bal Vikas Aur Pushtahaar) has devised a home delivery mechanism, whereby Anganwadi workers will deliver food at the child's doorstep if he/she cannot collect the same from the centre.

A day after Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress abstained from voting on the Women's Bill, Congress MP Praveen Rashtrapal trained his guns at her pointing out that there were ministers who were not obeying the government's discipline despite being in the Cabinet.