Obama supported the Department of Health and Human Services

                                                                                                                           

WASHINGTON – President Obama said that he supported the Department of Health and Human Services superseding on Thursday an FDA decision to allow an emergency morning-after contraceptive pill to be sold to girls younger than 17 without a prescription.

I did not get involved in the process," Obama said during a White House news conference but added that "as the father of two daughters," he supported HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' decision, which activists, doctors and scientists have criticized as political.

We are not against congress but for Lokpal

Today News: Team Anna Member refused to comment if they were from Congress or any particular political party.

On Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal being attacked, the PM said, "In a democracy there is no place for violence. Therefore any act of violence is to be condemned and on that point I am clear that nothing is gained by pursuit of violence." The PM said, "I would hope that he would not use language at times which appears to be intemperate. I think in politics it is better to avoid harsh words."  

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday blamed corrupt political parties for the attack on him during a public gathering in Lucknow. However he refused to comment if they were from Congress or any particular political party.

Why Team Anna was campaigning against the Congress in UP instead of the Mayawati government, which had not spoken in support of Jan Lokpal Bill, Kejriwal reiterated that the team was not anti-Congress.  

He said that the campaign was not against the Congress, but was to ensure a strong Lokpal Bill, adding that everything was being done to put pressure on the ruling party. Kejriwal further said that putting such pressure was very legitimate in a democracy.

Backing the yatra taken up by Team Anna, he said that there was no harm in taking it up, clarifying that they were not asking people go against the Congress. He further said that the team would wait for the winter session, following which Anna Hazare would himself request to the people in December or January.

Government bows to Anna Hazare

News Today: On Monday Law minister Salman Khurshid said Team Anna's proposal was being looked into by the government. Anna's next course of action, which the Gandhian has already said would be to press for electoral reforms.

Khurshid said the proposal could be placed for consultation at an all-party forum on electoral reforms. The minister, however, admitted the right to recall was a difficult provision but said the government was working on that, indicating it has not been put in cold storage because of opposition.

"We have a strong lobby that is questioning us on the need to introduce the right to reject," Khurshid said at the Asian forum for global governance.

A number of other proposals of electoral reforms were also up for discussion. Among it is a suggestion to introduce a provision wherein voters can reject a candidate and decide not to cast a vote.

But Quraishi said it would lead to frequent elections. " Our main fear is that if we start rejecting all candidates, we will have another election.

"The CEC said efforts should be taken so that tainted candidates do not take part in elections. But the proposal was met with stiff resistance from political parties on the grounds that false cases are often framed against politicians.

"We are only saying that at least those candidates be barred, who have serious charges like rape, kidnapping, murder and dacoity against them which would lead to imprisonment of more than five years and cases against whom are pending for more than six months prior to elections and against whom charges have already been framed by the court," Quraishi said.

Congress Core Group discusses Telangana

News Today: The Congress top leadership is still not fully convinced that creating a new state of  Telangana is the best option for it. On Tuesday meeting of the Congress core Group at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence ended without any change in the situation even as reports form Hyderabad suggested that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had taken a stern line with striking government servants. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, briefed Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh on the consultations they had over the last few days with party leaders from both sides of the divide in Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana Congress leaders saw a pattern in the appeal. A senior leader claimed that the Chief Minister, having drawn flak for allegedly doing little to restore normality in the wake of the general strike, had gotten into an overdrive. In fact, Mr. Reddy and APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana had gone all out to woo the RTC union leaders to end the strike. 

The Chief Minister had also begun consultations with his own party leaders and there was a perceptible change in the ground-level situation. The political JAC had deferred its three-day rail roko agitation while Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy and Police Commissioner A.K. Khan had gone round the city inspecting bus depots and railway stations. 

CM briefs Governor

The Chief Minister drove to Raj Bhavan late in the evening to brief Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan about the prevailing law and order situation and the efforts made by the APSRTC to put more buses into operation from Wednesday morning.

Going gets tough for state parties as EC hikes minimum votes limit

Today News: Getting recognition as a ‘state party’ is all set to become more difficult. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has raised the cap of minimum votes a political party must secure in an election to get the status of a state party or maintain it further. 

The new minimum limit is eight per cent of total valid votes polled in state Assembly or Lok Sabha polls. Earlier, the limit was six per cent. 

To make this change, the ECI has amended its Election Symbols (Reservations and Allotment) Order, 1968 and issued a new order on September 16, the Election Symbols (Reservations and Allotment) (Amendment) Order, 2011. 

The order, issued by K F Wilfred, Principal Secretary to the ECI, has been sent to all states and Union Territories. In UP, the Chief Electoral officer has communicated the amendment to all district magistrates and registered parties in the state.

Parties play politics over eviction notice

Today News: The eviction notice served by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to thousands of families living in Tughlaqabad village since the 14th century is slowly snowballing into a political issue. While the ASI takes the plea that the villagers have “encroached upon” the government land, the two prominent parties of Delhi — the Congress and the BJP — with their eyes set on upcoming Municipal elections, have openly come out in support of the villagers. 

A delegation of Congress leaders — south Delhi Member of Parliament Ramesh Kumar and Chhatarpur MLA Balram Tanwar among others — met chief minister Sheila Dikshit to reflect the tension prevailing in the village. 

The move came just two days after a BJP delegation, led by leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, and area MLA Ramesh Bidhuri met Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna “to bring the matter to his notice”.

Yet another group of local leaders with west Delhi MP Mahabal Misra also met union culture minister Kumari Selja to request her to intervene into the matter. Senior political leaders accept that if municipal elections had not been around the corner, the issue would not have seen so much political frenzy. The issue has been in Court for quite some time now, but never managed to gather so much political support. 

“Tughlaqabad is among several Gujjar villages that are spread in south, south west and west Delhi. The elections in these areas are fought and won with the support of Gujjar votes. The political leaders know that lending their support to the cause would help them get some support and votes in the municipal elections next year,”said a senior Congress leader.


With the Congress facing dual problems of Corruption and inflation at the Centre, the local leaders are making efforts get some support at the grassroot level. On the other hand, Tughlaqabad is one of two Assembly segments in Delhi where BJP managed to get more votes than the Congress could in the 2009 Parliament elections.

Political battle over 2G: PM on the offensive

Defending the government over the 2G scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went on the offensive. He lashed out at the Opposition saying there is no chance of mid-term polls. 

The political war over the 2G note row is heating up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attacking the Opposition upon his return from New York. He has accused the Opposition of trying to force mid-term polls.

The BJP has hit back saying the 2G loot was not the Opposition's creation. 

The Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to meet party leaders on Wednesday to defuse the 2G crisis. 

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to set the record straight after meeting the PM. It was Pranab's ministerial note saying that his predecessor P Chidambaram could have chosen to intervene and avert the 2G scam.

Sonia returns to political routine

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is slowly getting back into her normal political routine of meeting people including political leaders although she is yet to make a public appearance after her successful surgery in the United States recently for an undisclosed ailment. 

Over the past few days, Sonia has met several party leaders including former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh besides party general secretaries including Digvijaya Singh and Janardan Dwivedi, sources said. 

On Friday, she met DMK leader TR Baalu, who conveyed his party leader M Karunanidhi’s wishes. “It is a great opportunity to receive the blessings of a senior leader like Karunanidhi,” Baalu later quoted Sonia as saying. He said no politics was discussed. 

Party leaders said Sonia’s gradual return to normal routine invalidates the talk that she would slowly withdraw from active politics to make way for son and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi. In fact, just over a week after her return from the US, she decided to attend a Central Election Committee meeting to decide candidates for the UP polls.

Yeddyurappa kin's offices, house searched

The Lokayukta police conducted simultaneous searches and recovered a large number of documents from the offices of firms jointly owned by former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's sons and son-in-law on Tuesday.

The early morning operation was a result of an order passed by the Lokayukta Court on August 8 directing the Lokayukta police to register a First Information Report against Mr. Yeddyurappa, his kin and associates and investigate the alleged irregularities in the award of a major works contract for the Upper Bhadra lift irrigation project. 

Yeddyurappa told presspersons in Koppal that he had been expecting the searches. He also assume that leaders of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) were behind it.

“They want to take political revenge against me and my family members,” he said.

In a private complaint to the Lokayukta Court filed on July 27, JD(S) leader Y.S.V. Datta alleged that two firms owned by the two sons and son-in-law of the then Chief Minister received a kickback of Rs. 13 crore from a company for the award of a civil contract for the second stage of the Upper Bhadra irrigation project.

He had alleged that the company had been favoured despite quoting higher rates during the tender process.

Speaking to The Hindu, Additional Director-General of the Lokayukta Police Jeevan Kumar Gaonkar said the searches were conducted on the offices of Sahyadri Healthcare and Diagnostics Ltd. and Davalagiri Properties Ltd. owned jointly by Mr. Yeddyurappa's son-in-law R.N. Sohan Kumar and sons B.Y Vijayendra and B.Y. Raghavendra.

Four separate teams searched the offices situated in Vijayanagar, Tilaknagar and Kumara Park.

Mr. Sohan Kumar's house in Vijayanagar was also searched. Sources in the Lokayukta remained tight-lipped about the recovered documents and merely said that the thousands of seized documents contained details of the firms' bank transactions, financial transactions and other correspondence.

Is Anna Hazare joining politics?

Recent announcements, about supporting one political formation or the other, many are wondering if Anna Hazare is joining politics

Anna Hazare, India’s reincarnated ‘Gandhi‘ has assured his followers that he is not joining politics, but people are not ready to believe it.

“Absolutely not. I am taking extreme care to keep the anti-corruption movement free of politics. There is absolutely no such possibility”, he said while talking to the media. He was replying to a question on the issue of his movement against corruption for a Jan Lokpal Bill being slowly taken into the fold of politics, after the recent announcement of Team Anna bidding public to vote out MPs opposing their cause, in the next Parliament elections.

However, the seventy-four year old activist shared no views on senior BJP front man LK Advani’s proposed anti-corruption “yatra” being a political move to gain credibility for the party.

On the issue raised by Congress leader Digvijay Singh that the anti-corruption movement is being backed by the VHP (as claimed by VHP leader Ashok Singhal) and RSS, Anna’s views were strongly dismissive. He challenged any such allegations.

Hazare re-assured, “Our movement has nothing to do with RSS or VHP. All this is being talked to mislead the people.”

Anna said that he had no doubts about the yoga guru Ramdev’s sincere effort to wipe out corruption from the country.

The anti-corruption icon refused to pay a lot of attention bout Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s bouquet that was sent to Anna wishing him a speedy recovery from his health problems, when Anna was hospitalized after breaking his 12 day fast.

Anna explained, “The bouquet that I received in the hospital was sent by Prime Minister’s office as a matter of procedure.”

“We had no differences of opinion in the past and would not have any differences in future. Friction happens when people are selfish and greedy. All my team members are fighting for a cause with a selfless commitment,” he assured, on being asked about the differences, which coul come up between him and his team-mates.

Politics Journal: Where Did India-Bangladesh Talks Go Wrong?

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh climbed into Air India One at the end of his visit to Dhaka last week, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her entire Cabinet lined up on the tarmac. There they waited not only until the plane began taxiing for take off, but until it had completely disappeared from view.

Only hours before, the Bangladesh National Party, Ms. Hasina’s major political opposition, had blamed her for not adequately preparing for the Indian prime minister’s two-day visit and described it as a “diplomatic failure.”

The accusation hurt, not only because it was partially true–a breakthrough agreement on sharing of river waters between India and Bangladesh had collapsed at the last minute–but also because Ms. Hasina’s special friendship with India goes back to 1971 when her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman, accepted Indira Gandhi’s help in midwifing the new nation of Bangladesh.

Ms. Hasina’s prolonged presence  at the airport was “a huge relief,” a senior Indian diplomat said on condition of anonymity, adding that it “gave teeth to her statements that despite everything, both countries would always remain firm friends.”

Angry Anna

India's decision to take tough steps against political dishonesty may have had a little help from a flying, angry bird.

Angry Anna, a political riff on popular game Angry Birds, helped to spread the word about Indian activist Anna Hazare's campaign to rid the country's government of graft, CNN reports.

In free-to-play Angry Anna, players shoot disembodied heads of Hazare and activists Baba Ramdev and Kiran Bedi against a group of Indian politicians, playing the role of the game's pigs.

The game was created by a New Dehli development company.

"We wanted to go to a candlelight march at (New Delhi landmark) India Gate but we were unable to because of the heavy work load in our office, so we thought, why not build a game so people can vent their frustration by sitting in an office and playing," developer Mohammad Faisal told CNN. "We didn't expect it to be so successful."

The game has been played online about 267,000 times, according to game host GameSalad.

It's an interesting look at how the popularity of a widely played, and known, game can be usurped to help further a political message.

Karachi killing case in SC: Many in police are political appointees: IG

KARACHI, Sept 9: The Sindh police chief conceded before a five-judge special bench of the Supreme Court on Friday that 30 to 40 per cent appointments in police had been made on the basis of political affiliation which hampered action against criminals.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing a suo motu case on killings in Karachi. The other judges on the bench are: Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Ghulam Rabbani and Amir Hani Muslim.

IG Wajid Ali Durrani informed the court that action was being taken against personnel whose political affiliations had been determined.

The chief justice ordered the IG to take an across-the-board action against criminals because all political parties which had appeared before the court wanted peace in the country`s financial hub.

“We are here to strengthen you; we are backing you. You must take action against criminals without any fear or favour,” the chief justice told the IG.

Mr Durrani said sympathisers of political parties in the police force and some other factors were hampering action against criminals. He said politically-affiliated elements in police had a “soft corner” for criminals.

He said that under the Police Order he had powers only to transfer officers up to the rank of DSP. “I don`t have powers to even suspend a DSP.” Justice Sarmad Osmany said it meant “you (Mr Durrani) are not independent”.

The IG said there were hurdles in getting requisite information from mobile phone companies and from banks in respect of ATMs. He said the Inter-Services Intelligence had the facility of GSM/RBS locators.

The chief justice asked the IG if he was under any political pressure to take action against criminals. “We are here to help you,” the CJ said and asked the IG to submit such problem in writing.

The court asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to seek instructions in this regard from the authorities concerned and submit a report at the next hearing.

Justice Amir Hani said that over 900 officers had been given shoulder-promotions in the police department. The chief justice said this practice had been stopped in other provinces on the apex court`s order and asked why was this order not being implemented in Sindh.

When the chief justice wanted know if a case about the presence of a torture cell was registered, Karachi police chief Saud Mirza said it could not be done because the cell had been raided by Rangers personnel and police were yet to get details.

The attorney general placed on record a report of the Intelligence Bureau on the Karachi situation.

Sindh Advocate General Fateh Malik presented a summary of different cases from July 24 to August 24.

The court sought details of certain some criminal cases from provincial authorities.

The chief justice observed that police were capable of controlling the situation, but they were not doing so because of lack of determination and will.

The hearing was adjourned till Sept 13 when Sindh High Court Bar Association President Anwer Mansoor Khan will resume his arguments.

'Time to stop the political circus'-Obama

With the nation’s economy in a particularly rough patch and his own re-election prospects in doubt, President Obama told Congress it’s time to “stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”

“The people of this country work hard to meet their responsibilities,” Obama told a joint session of Congress. “The question tonight is whether we’ll meet ours.”

Specifically, the President offered a $447 billion “American Jobs Act” designed to help those 14 million Americans out of work. It includes extending the payroll tax cut, extending jobless benefits, a “returning heroes” hiring tax credit for unemployed veterans, a $4,000 tax credit for hiring long-term unemployed workers, $35 billion to keep laid-off teachers and first responders in their jobs, and some $100 billion to be spent on major school construction and infrastructure renovation.

We are victims of Congress politics, says Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Team Anna is a "victim of Congress politics", said activist Arvind Kejriwal Thursday, a day after talks between the government and activist Anna Hazare's group ended in a deadlock.

"We have become victims of internal politics of Congress. How many rounds of talks we have had with senior leaders like Kapil Sibal and Chidambaram but nothing has happened till now. Whom will we talk to?" Kejriwal said, even as Hazare's fast entered its tenth day Thursday.

There was no breakthrough Wednesday night in the talks between the government and Hazare's team for an anti-corruption law.

"There were strong indications that Annaji could be evicted from Ramlila Maidan early morning today (Thursday). As the issue was publicised nothing was done," Kejriwal told reporters here.

Hazare has been on fast since Aug 16, the day he was arrested and taken to Tihar Jail. He was released the same day, but he refused to leave. He shifted to Ramlila ground Aug 19 where he has been continuing with his fast.