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Supreme Court has agreed to hear Centre’s plea against Tamil Nadu govt’s decision to release all the seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Centre has pleaded that the convicts should not be released during pendency of its review petition on commutation of death sentence. The apex court has agreed to give an urgent hearing on Centre’s plea. The plea will be taken up later on Thursday. Manmohan's press statement The Government is moving a review petition in the Supreme Court on fundamental issues of law arising from the assassination of the late Shri Rajiv Gandhi. We have also informed the Tamil Nadu Government that their proposed course of action to release the killers of Shri Rajiv Gandhi is not legally tenable and should not be proceeded with. The assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India. The release of the killers of a former Prime Minister of India and our great leader, as well as several other innocent Indians, would be contrary t

Ahead of general election, the Centre today took key decisions to woo minorities and Government employees. For minorities, the Cabinet has decided to form equal opportunity commission as suggested by Sachhar Committee. This commission will suggest ways to ensure equal opportunities in jobs, education and even finding house on rent for minorities. The commission is expected to be constituted soon. Terms of reference for 7th pay commission In order to benefit over 50 lakh employees and over 30 lakh pensioners, the Cabinet also approved terms of reference for seventh pay commission. This includes merging dearness allowance above 50 per cent with basic pay. Currently DA is around 90 per cent of basic pay and another hike of 10 per cent is expected soon. DA is calculated on the basis of change in retail inflation. Non-statutory coal regulator In another significant decision, the Cabinet gave its nod for setting up non-statutory coal regulator. This mechanism is expected to resolve the

China has officially overtaken India as the largest gold market in 2013 by registering a demand of 1,066 tonnes (807 tonnes) against 975 tonnes (864 tonnes) logged in India. Unlike India, the Chinese Government has a stated policy to boost gold trade as the country emerged as one of the largest producers of gold. Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, World Gold Council India, said that the increase in Chinese demand was due to the Government’s pro-gold policy that helped make the yellow metal a trusted investment avenue. “Chinese Government’s gold push can also be traced to the fact that it is looking to diversify from dollar. Having secured the leadership position in driving demand, it would now look to influence prices. Even today, the price movement in the Shanghai Gold Exchange is closely watched in global markets. It is a pity that India does not even have a benchmark price,” he said. Given the restriction on imports and high customs duty, gold demand in the fourth quarter was do