Union telecommunications and IT minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday met top telecom industrialists Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal to assure them that the government will be fair and transparent to the industry.

Two inmates of Tihar jail, one serving a life sentence and another facing trial in a murder case, on Tuesday claimed before a Delhi court that they were allegedly being pressured by prison officials to kill sacked officials of the Organising Committee of the Delhi Commonwealth Games currently lodged in the same jail.

The ninth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, an annual gathering of people of Indian origin, will be held in New Delhi from January 7 to 9, 2011. Union overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said it will have a special focus on the north-eastern states. There will be a special plenary session on investment opportunities in the Northeast, which will be addressed by the chief ministers of all the north-eastern states.

The EC and the ministries of external affairs and overseas Indian affairs have held two rounds of talks but there is no consensus yet on finalising the modalities for giving NRIs (non-resident Indians) voting rights. Consequently, millions of NRIs may have to wait a little longer to see their names in electoral rolls. Union overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna can be expected to resume discussions soon to resolve the issue.

The Centre has alerted Mumbai and Ahmedabad about Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba planning terror strikes in the two cities. The Central intelligence agencies have warned that LeT teams have already sneaked into the cities and may strike any time. These inputs, received in the last 24 hours, have been shared with Mumbai, Ahmedabad as well as other metro cities.

The CBI for the first time on Tuesday questioned corporate lobbyist Niira Radia in connection with its probe into the 2G spectrum scam involving former telecom minister A. Raja. Mr Raja will appear before the agency on Friday. Mr Raja, who is camping in Chennai, will leave for Delhi on Thursday.

The railways is keeping its fingers crossed and hoping that the Gujjar agitation that has disrupted rail traffic in the Gangapur city-Bharatpur section since Monday will end soon. After all, it has already had to cancel and divert some trains since Monday owing to the stir. A similar agitation by the Gujjars stretching over several days when they had blocked railway tracks had caused it a loss of around `40 crores.

Growing consumer concern over spiralling onion prices prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step in on Tuesday and ask the concerned ministries to take the steps necessary for reining in their prices. He has also directed that onion prices be monitored on a daily basis.

The government may soon force some of the top members of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee (OC), including its chairman Suresh Kalmadi and secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, to step down from the posts they are holding.

The 83rd Congress plenary held here on Sunday and Monday could be different in many ways. While the party’s call for halla bol against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar could project the latter as a natural party of Hindus, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has confused Congressmen and the Opposition as well.