The government has swung into action with the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers (MCF) having filed an affidavit in the Jabalpur high court demanding that DOW Chemicals bear the cost of remediation in and around the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) factory in Bhopal.

Richard Holbrooke, the US President Barack Obama’s pointman for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is certain that the situation in Afghanistan cannot be stabilised without the participation of Pakistan as a legitimate concerned party.

The government on Thursday approved inclusion and amendment of the names of castes and communities in the Central list of other backward classes (OBCs). The decision has been taken in respect of states including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Union Territory of Daman and Diu.

The government on Thursday approved Rs 3023.01 crore for the second phase of the UPA’s ambitious scheme to allocate unique identity numbers to 10 crore of the country’s population.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday issued a directive stating that there should be no cap on number of satellite-based TV channels meant for downlinking and uplinking from India.

Taking a cue from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had suggested a two-pronged strategy to deal with Naxal menace, the Planning Commission, in its agenda for upcoming National Development Council (NDC) meeting on July 24, has proposed adopting a three-pronged strategy to deal with the problem. These will include

The Union home ministry has prepared new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all Central and state security forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations in the country. The fresh SOPs have been evolved after taking the views of the Indian Army, security brass and other experts. Elaborating on pre-deployment tactics in LWE

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said Mr P. Chidambaram is a very competent home minister. “The Prime Minister has reposed confidence in him to lead the ministry which I think is right,” he said. He also welcomed the AICC’s directives to the partymen.

Air traffic controllers are planning to lodge a formal complaint with the DGCA that several pilots are not observing speed limits while coming in to land at airports, resulting in more frequent “go arounds” and more work pressure on the already overburdened ATCs.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram is understood to have shared copies of David C. Headley’s interrogation report with the cabinet committee on security, of which Mr S.M. Krishna is a member, besides NSA Shivshankar Menon.