The Centre put off any decision on deploying the armed forces in anti-Maoist operations with a crucial Cabinet Committee on Security meeting ending inconclusively on Thurs-day. Differences of opinion between the home and defence ministries led to the CCS meeting ending without any clear way forward, sources said. The CCS,

The proposals placed before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Thursday included deploying the Army’s bomb-disposal squads in de-mining operations in anti-Naxal areas, assistance of the Army’s special forces commandos in undertaking precision strikes against Naxals, formation of a unified command to tackle the Naxals, and increasing the use of IAF choppers for transportation of paramilitary forces besides casualty-evacuation.

The Bhopal gas tragedy verdict continued to roil the political firmament, forcing the Centre to reconstitute a Group of Ministers on Wednesday to go into a “range of issues” on the world’s worst industrial disaster in 1984, including relief and rehabilitation for the victims. Union home minister P. Chidambaram will head the 10-member body.

With a former CBI official indicating that the agency was under pressure from the ministry of external affairs not to seek Mr Anderson’s extradition, the ministry lobbed the ball back into the CBI’s court on Wednesday. A senior official in the ministry said here that it had approached the premier investigating agency as recently as 2008 for more information so that the matter of extradition of Warren Anderson could be taken up with the US government.

President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka arrived here on Tuesday evening for a four-day visit, his first to India after his re-election this January and handsome win for his alliance in the recent Parliament poll. He is expected to discuss with the Indian leaders his post-war road map for reconciliation and rehabilitation for the Tamils in the island, besides signing some pacts in areas such as development and culture.

An Army Major, who is under the scanner of investigating agencies for alleged leak of sensitive information to a Pakistani intelligence agency, is likely to be booked under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) soon for illegal possession of confidential Army documents. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is in the process of questioning

While one octogenarian, Keshub Mahindra, who headed the Indian arm of Union Carbide, has been convicted in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, yet another octogenarian, Warren Anderson, who was Union Carbide

The BJP decided Sunday to field eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani for the second seat from Rajasthan, but uncertainty continues about veteran actress Hema Malini. The BJP dropped earlier plans to field her from Rajasthan, but she could still be picked from Karnataka or Orissa, where the BJP can get one candidate elected.

The CPI(M) on Saturday rejected West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s desire to quit following the Left Front’s drubbing in the civic polls in the state. However, a section in the Bengal unit conveyed to the central leadership that they were against going to the Assembly polls under Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s leadership. The preliminary report of the civic poll outcome was submitted to the politburo on Saturday.

The much-awaited southwest monsoon finally hit the Kerala coast on Monday.