With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh identifying five key areas of development in which states have pivotal roles to play, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Friday said, the highest policy body National Development Council (NDC), which will meet on Saturday, would be a perfect forum to take the views of chief ministers on the issues.

Upholding the Centre’s stand, the Delhi high court on Friday allowed its petition challenging an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which permitted the RTI activist, Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, to inspect files pertaining to the controversial Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement between India and Pakistan in Egypt in July 2009.

In a partnership against terrorism, India and the United States on Friday signed a Counter Terrorism Initiative which includes steps to check financing of terror activities, joint probe in cases of bomb blasts and cooperation in cyber and border security. The move comes ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to India in early

India has expressed its apprehension to the United States that US military aid to Pakistan could be misused by Pakistan against India and has suggested that the US set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure that its aid is not subjected to misuse, defence sources confirmed on Friday. India has also told the United States that the

Efforts have begun in haste to settle the MEA-MHA turf war. Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, who met home secretary G.K. Pillai on Thursday, is believed to have clarified the MEA’s stand on the failed dialogue between foreign minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart S.M. Qureshi.

The mining industry has reacted adversely to the proposed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act that tribals be provided with a 26 per cent equity in mining companies as also a section of their annual revenues.

The CPI(M), which was routed in its efforts to cobble up a third front during the last general elections, is at it again. Party general secretary Prakash Karat not merely tried to push forward his anti-Congress agenda, but also talked of a third alternative.

The government has an open mind on the issue of shifting Question Hour in Parliament from the customary 11 am to some other time to enable Opposition members to raise matters of urgent public importance.

Rattled by unabated electoral losses, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has set out to diagnose ills affecting the party, apart from gauging people’s preferences of candidates ahead of the 2012 UP elections. Mr Yadav has called for an exhaustive report on each of the 403 Assembly constituencies to be prepared by party observers, 160 in all, who have fanned out in each of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

There was sharp differences in a bench of the Supreme Court while interpreting a vital provision of the Representation of People’s Act relating to recounting of votes in parliamentary and Assembly elections, particularly when the victory margin is very narrow. The RPA provision for interpretation before the top court was related to Section 97 of the act, which debars the winning candidate from making a plea in the election petition for recounting of the votes of the losing candidates.