The union cabinet is likely to clear the Consumer Protection Bill today (Wednesday) with provisions to make manufacturers and service providers liable for their products and services. The bill seeks to set up an authority with  power to look into complaints, investigate and even order recall of unsafe products and order compensation to buyers. This authority will be in addition to the existing consumer forums. The proposed bill will replace the 29-year-old law - Consumer Protection Act 1986. E-commerce and any online transaction for buying or selling of products or services will be under the ambit of the new law.

Mortal remains of Kalam flown to Rameswaram, funeral tomorrow
Mortal remains of former President A P J Abdul Kalam were today flown to his hometown Rameswaram from Delhi in a special aircraft at around 08.15 AM. The aircraft will fly to Madurai, from where the mortal remains will be flown in to Rameswaram by an IAF helicopter. The funeral of the former president will be held in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, on Thursday with full military honours.

Speaker holding all party meeting tomorrow on house business
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has convened all party meeting tomorrow to discuss better functioning of Lok Sabha. Both houses of parliament were adjourned for two days on Tuesday morning after paying tributes to former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who died in Shillong on Monday.

Now, Patna HC bans use of CM, ministers photos in govt campaign
The Patna high court has imposed an interim ban on use of pictures of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, state ministers and other publicity material in the state government's "Badh Chala Bihar" campaign following a petition that accused the government of misusing public money for publicity of the ruling Janata Dal (United).The writ petition has been filed by 'Nagarik Adhikar Manch' convenor and RTI activist Shiv Prakash Rai. Recently, the supreme court had banned use of photos of politicians in government campaigns.

Swachh Bharat targets in sight in toilets construction
Despite challenges of selection of location and maintenance, public sector companies Coal India and NTPC are way ahead of the private sector firms in achieving the Swachh Bharat targets for building toilets. In private sector companies like Bharti, Infosys, Mahindra, TCS and Toyota are leading players. The companies are also taking innovative steps and control costs.

AP chief minister in trouble, mentioned in Telangana chargesheet
The chargesheet filed by the Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the cash-for-vote case on Tuesday mentions Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and claims that the person referred to as 'Babu', 'Boss' and 'Naidu' by main accused  TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy is in fact the chief minister. The 25-page chargesheet, filed in the ACB principal special judge court, listed 39 witnesses, cited 319 documents and four persons named in the FIR filed on May 31.

Mumbai Ganesh mandals get permission to pitch on roads
Mumbai civic body has decided to grant Ganesh puja mandals permission for the erection of mandaps on streets and footpaths after ensuring that they do not inconvenience pedestrians and motorists. It will introduce a complaint redressal mechanism to deal with violation during the celebrations. The policy makes it mandatory for all the mandals to display the phone numbers of competent authorities to complain about noise pollution and other forms of nuisance. The Ganeshotsav mandals welcomed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) policy.

National Security Advisor-level talks on with Pakistan
Though dates for the talks have not yet been firmed up  the upcoming national security advisor-level talks with Pakistan will take place despite the terror attack in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. Crossborder terror tops the list of issues to be discussed between India's AK Doval and his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz in Delhi next month.  Pakistan Foreign Ministry had condemned the attack: "We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist incident in Gurdaspur in which a number of precious lives have been lost... Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We extend heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the government and people of India and wish the wounded speedy and full recovery."

Sensex pares gains after rising over 100 points
The S&P BSE Sensex surged as much as 132 points but soon pared gains in trade on Wednesday. The upside was capped by selling in index heavyweights like ONGC, ITC and NTPC. The 50-share Nifty index reclaimed its crucial psychological level of 8350, supported by gains in IT, auto, consumer durable, metal and power stocks. The 30-share index pared some of the intraday gains but was still trading at 27517, up 58 points or 0.21 per cent. It touched a high of 27,591.65.65 and a low of 27,499.92 in trade today.