View Articles

BHOPAL: The Sangh parivar seems to have accorded Madhya Pradesh a special place in its scheme of things. Two mega events of the parivar are being held in the state this month. The first is the national executive meet of the BJP, which will be held at Indore from February 17 to 19. The Indore meet is significant because, among other things, it will endorse the appointment of Mr. Nitin Gadkari as president of the party.

By accident or by design, power structure in Delhi has been undergoing tectonic changes. It began with the UPA government's second term in office. Most of us have failed to notice the sudden shift of virtual power from the PMO to the ministries headed by the party veterans. Some took it as bad taste in the mouth and conscientiously tried to underplay the sudden erosion of PMO's powers and prerogatives. Time has come when the harsh realities have to be accepted and honestly analysed.

The menace of spurious drugs in India continues unabated. So far, all the measures that the Government of India and the State Governments have taken have come to a naught. The stake holders, such as, manufacturers, traders, retailers, dispensers, medical doctors, officials concerned in the Central Government and State Governments, broadly known as traders in human lives or for that matter rightly so, merchants of death, have been thriving with impunity.

New York: The Security Council welcomed the communiqué from the recent international conference on Afghanistan, saying it set a clear agenda and agreed priorities for peace and security in the country, and was underpinned by a comprehensive strategy for the Government in Kabul.

New York: The leader of the Serb Radical Party was charged with contempt of court by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the Balkans over allegedly revealing details about protected witnesses in his own trial.

New York: Any agreement between the Afghan Government and the Taliban should include a clear commitment to protect women's human rights, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women said.

New York: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has transmitted a report to the General Assembly on the follow-up to the report made by the United Nations fact-finding mission into the deadly conflict in the Gaza Strip at the start of last year.

New York: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is rushing veterinary care to the rural population in the Peruvian Andes, where the Government has declared a state of emergency after two weeks of heavy rains.

New York: A large number of Iraqi refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries will be able to vote in Iraq's parliamentary elections early next month with help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the agency announced today.

New York: Nearly 200 cyber experts and other stakeholders seeking access to the Web for scores of millions of people with visual and other disabilities wrapped up a four-day United Nations workshop in Geneva today, stressing the need for universal access despite handicaps.