Air India pilots call off 10-day-old strike

Air India pilots on Friday night called off their 10-day-old strike after Government agreed to reinstate sacked and suspended pilots, restore recognition to their union and look into their complaints of irregularities.Over 800 pilots, belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines and owing allegiance to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association, as also executive pilots, will return to work on Friday night, Capt A S Bhinder, the association president told reporters in New Delhi on Friday.

Civil society shocked over Jaitapur nuclear power plant clearance

Civil society groups have expressed shock over the government’s “sheer insensitivity’’ in announcing on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe that it is going ahead with the Jaitapur nuclear power project.This means disregarding the overwhelming opposition to the project by 40,000 local people and the larger public, the caution counselled by numerous experts, and the grave safety concerns raised by the still-unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, a statement issued by the civil society groups said here on Thursday. These concerns are eminently reasonable. Many governments, including those in Germany, China and Switzerland, have taken them on board by adopting a “pause-and-review” approach towards reactor construction. The European Union has ordered “stress tests” on all its 143 reactors lasting many months.

The inflation conundrum - Opinion

To the surprise of the UPA government, inflation just refuses to go away. Almost a year ago, when addressing a Chief Minister’s conference on food prices early in February 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared: “The worst is over as far as food inflation is concerned. I am confident that we will soon be able to stabilise food prices.” Three months later, on more than one occasion, government spokespersons, like Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu, declared that inflation had “peaked out” and was on a downward trend. Such statements are not surprising since in the current dispensation government representatives at the highest level are expected to talk down prices and talk up markets. It is not what you say but the confidence with which you say it that matters.

Divergent views on bringing Prime Minister under Lok Pal Bill

A consultation here on Sunday threw up differences on bringing the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill, being formulated by a 10-member joint drafting committee that includes five members from civil society. The round table, dominated by eminent judges and lawyers, however, excused higher judiciary from the ambit of the proposed Bill and favoured a “separate mechanism” to make High Court and Supreme Court judges accountable for misconduct.