About three weeks after Road Transport & Highway Minister Kamal Nath wrote a letter to Law Minister M Veerappa Moily asking for 600 empowered courts to be set up for quick disposal of road accident insurance claims, the Law Ministry is preparing to lob the ball back into Kamal Nath’s court. According to the Law Ministry, officials are preparing to write back to Kamal Nath welcoming the proposal — provided his Ministry bears the costs involved.
If you can’t sack Raja, change his portfolio for fair probe: BJP to PM
May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
From limited mandate to limited authority, the debate it seems is not ending. A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh firmly backed his embattled Telecom Minister, the BJP on Tuesday trained its guns at the PM saying he doesn’t have the “political authority” to sack A Raja and sought at least a change in the minister’s portfolio. While saying so, the main opposition party alluded to the coalition compulsions of Singh and the Congress given the fact he and his party have to keep ally DMK in good humour.
“We are aware of your limitations as far as political authority is concerned. You cannot dismiss A Raja. At least change his department so that a fair inquiry is done into allegations of corruption in allocation of 2G spectrum,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. He criticised the Prime Minister for “virtually” giving a “clean chit” to Raja who he said had committed the “biggest fraud” by claiming that the TRAI had approved the policy on 2G auctions. Taking forward his party’s argument that “the Prime Minister evaded answers to crucial questions”, he said the PM was “conspicuously” silent on critical infrastructure-related issues.
He identified five areas � power sector, national highway projects, agriculture, Air India and BPL data � where he said the government was lagging behind or lacking clarity. While power generation is going down, the Planning Commission has lowered the target of constructing 20 km of highways a day set by Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath.
Same is the case with agriculture sector. Agriculture income is going down and inflation is having a serious impact on the sector. There is no clarity on the exact number of BPL families in the country as five different estimated numbers are being talked about which varies from 27.3 per cent to 77 per cent, he said.
HC rejects plea to monitor 2G probe
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition that requested it to monitor the CBI probe into the alleged role of Union Communications Minister A Raja in the 2008 sale of 2G spectrum licences.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice M B Lokur dismissed the petition filed by two city-based NGOs � Telecom Watchdog and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation. The court said it would be unfair to not show confidence in the CBI while it was still probing the issue.
Canadian envoy in Chennai to strengthen trade with Tamil Nadu
May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): Canada””s High Commissioner Joseph Caron is visiting Chennai from May 12 to 15 to further strengthen Canada’s trade relationship with Tamil Nadu.
Caron will meet officials of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the heads of department of the Chennai Port Trust.
He will also meet heads of several business organisations, including Ashok Leyland, Apollo Group of Hospitals, Polaris Software Lab Limited, Cognizant Technology Solutions and the president of the Institute for Financial Management and Research.
Caron will also participate in a roundtable organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
On the eve of his departure for Chennai, Caron said: “India and Canada are natural partners in a wide range of sectors; from trade and investment, to science and technology, to academic relations. We share the common values of Parliamentary democracies, federalist systems of governments, the rule of law and a commitment to global peace and security. Our extensive people-to-people contacts add to our vibrant bilateral relationship.”
Canada and India relations have intensified over past few years, particularly since the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper””s November 2009 visit to India. There have been several high level bilateral visits in the recent past, including the visits of Kamal Nath, Minister of Road Transport and Infrastructure and Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, in March to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries and enhance commercial opportunities for Indian and Canadian business.
India is a key priority for the Government of Canada’s foreign and trade policy agenda with two-way trade approaching five billion dollars. (ANI)
Sikhs demand death sentence for Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler
May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Ludhiana (Punjab), May 5 (ANI): Scores of Sikhs brought the National Highway to halt in Ludhiana here on Wednesday to demand death penalty for Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
The protestors, which included both men and women, stalled the National Highway 1, by squatting on the road and burning tyres to seek justice.
They later raised slogans against Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and burnt their effigies.
“Today the faces of Punjab state parliamentarians have been exposed. Thousands of Sikhs in Delhi, Bokaro, Kanpur were slaughtered. Till now no court proceedings have been done against neither Jagdish Tytler nor Sajjan Kumar,” said Surjeet Singh, a protestor.
“And CBI on the direction of Sonia Gandhi has given them clean chit. Our struggle and our fight would continue until Sajjan Kumar, Kamal Nath and murderer of Sikhs Jadish Tytler are handed till death,” he added.
Agitated Sikhs also expressed ire against Punjab Congress leaders Pratap Singh Bajwa and Ravneet Singh Bittu, who recently defended the party in the Parliament.
Earlier on April 27, a Karkardooma court in New Delhi let off Jagdish Tytler in connection with the riots case after accepting the closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that gave a clean chit to him.
Giving a clean cheat to Tytler, the court further said there was no ground to order further investigation in the case.
The CBI had submitted that there was nothing to proceed against 66-year-old Tytler as two witnesses, Jasbir Singh and Surinder Singh, were not reliable and their statements were ””false and concocted””.
Earlier on April 2, the CBI had given a clean chit to Tytler.
De-sealing its final investigation report in a court, the CBI has recommended quashing of FIR against Tytler.
On March 28, the CBI filed the report in a sealed envelope before Metropolitan Magistrate Ram Lal Meena.
Tytler was among the three prominent leaders named along with Sajjan Kumar and the late HKL Bhagat in the reports on anti-Sikh riots.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which claimed the lives of almost 3000 Sikhs, were triggered by the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards. (ANI)
Canadian team to visit India to advocate Indo-Canada CEPA
March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, Mar.25 (ANI): A high profile Canadian delegation led by John Manley, President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and Roy MacLaren, Chairman of the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC), will visit India from March 29 to April 1, 2010.
A Canadian High Commission release said they will be accompanied by a private sector delegation and will visit New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
They will meet Canadian and Indian business leaders, government officials, academics and economic policy experts to promote the mutual benefits of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and advocate for a stronger commercial engagement between Canada and India.
During the November 2009 visit of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to India, a Joint Study Group was established to formulate the parameters of a CEPA. Representing the Canadian private sector, the delegation will meet with government officials, including Minister of Industry and Commerce, Anand Sharma, to convey the importance of the India-Canada commercial relationship.
They will also hold panel discussions with senior members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Indian and Canadian business leaders.
This visit, as several other recent high-level visits to India and Canada, including the current visit of Minister of Road Transport and Infrastructure, Kamal Nath, strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries, and enhance commercial opportunities for Indian and Canadian business. (ANI)
Government seeks foreign investment in road building
July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, July 7(ANI): Union Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday that the government wants foreign investors to fund as much as half of the 20 billion dollars, which it has earmarked for road building in a year.
Kamal Nath said he has plans to meet with investors from Europe, the United States and Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, in the next two or three months to discuss which financing platforms would be most effective.
“I think in the next one year, the investment is close to 10 billion dollars from overseas. That’s the target what I am saying. We must get 10 billion dollars in the next one year in the investment opportunities,” Kamal Nath said.
India’s ambitious highway programmes has hit a speed bump as wary investors shy away from funding, but critics say the problem lies deeper and that the process of offering and bidding for highway upgrades needs review.
Kamal Nath said the government was aware of the problems and was engaging with the state governments to speed up road building across the country.
Meanwhile, he also said it was examining the issue of appropriate compensation for land acquisition.
“Roads need money, but-more important than money-roads need land. While additional outlay has been proposed, we have to match this with commensurate land acquisition to be able to use the money,” Nath said. (ANI)
UPA declares portfolios, Sibal gets Human Resource, Moily; Law and Justice
May 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): Portfolios of the council of ministers, who sworn-in as ministers of UPA Government, were declared on Thursday evening with Kapil Sibal getting the Human Resource ministry and Veerappa Moily getting the Law and Justice ministry.
The arrangement of portfolios in Dr. Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government gives Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal ( the Ministry of Human Resource), Veerapa Moily (Law and Justice), Ambika Soni (Information and Broadcasting), Murli Deora (Petroleum), Jaipal Reddy (Urban Development), Meira Kumar (Water Resources), Salman Khurshid (Minority Affairs), Virbhadra Singh (Steel), and Vilasrao Deshmukh (Heavy Industries and Pubic Enterprises).
Ghulam Nabi Azad (Family Welfare and Health), Farooq Abdullah (New and Renewable Energy), Anand Sharma (Commerce and Industry), C.P.Joshi (Rural Development and Panchayati Raj), Pawan Bansal (Parliamentary Affairs), Kamal Nath (Surface Transport and Highways), Dayanidhi Maran (Textiles Industries), Sri Prakash Jaiswal (Coal, Independent Charge)
M.S. Gill (Youth and Sports), Praful Patel (Civil Aviation), Jairam Ramesh (Environment), M.Kharage (Labour and Employment), Vayalar Ravi (Overseas Affairs), G.K.Vasan (Shipping), A.Raja (Communication and IT),
Shashi Tharoor (Mos External Affairs), Sachin Pilot (MoS Commmunication and Information Technology and Telecom), Jyotriraditya Scindia (Mos Commerce and Information Technology), M. K. Azhagiri (Chemicals and Fertilisers), Prithvi Raj Chauhan (Independent Charge, MoS, Science and Technology).
Jitin Prasad (Mos for Petroleum Ministry), Ajay Maken (MoS Home Affairs), E.Ahmed (Mos Railways), Agatha Sangma (Mos, Rural Development)
The ministerial meet is scheduled for May 30. (ANI)
Cabinet expansion scheduled for Thursday
May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, May 26 (ANI): Union Council of Ministers will be expanded on Thursday, with swearing-in ceremony of the second lot of ministers to be held at 11.30 a.m. at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi today met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for a second round of discussions on expansion of the Council of Ministers.
She was accompanied by her political advisor Ahmed Patel. Earlier in the day, Gandhi chaired a meeting of the Congress core group, which was attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and Ahmed Patel.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi had a marathon four-hour meeting to discuss the expansion.
As reported the DMK has already announced its decision to join the Government. The expansion is expected to have Ministers from the DMK, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and other allies of the Congress.
According to sources, Trinamool Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP are the two allies putting pressure on the UPA over the issue of Cabinet berths.
Besides, the Congress is undecided on allocating portfolios to some of its own leaders like Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj.
In the first round of swearing-in on Friday, only 19 ministers were inducted along with the Prime Minister. Portfolios have been allocated to only six ministers.
The induction was a truncated affair as DMK, a key constituent of the UPA, was unhappy over the number of ministerial berths being offered by the Congress and threatened to support the government from outside. (ANI)
FACTBOX – Who will head the key ministries in India?
May 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Prime Minister-elect Manmohan Singh will be sworn in for a second term on Friday after the election victory of his Congress party-led coalition, which has since won the support of enough lawmakers for a parliamentary majority.
The following is a round-up, based on local media reports and Congress party officials’ comments, of politicians likely to head key ministries.
FINANCE
Sources say Pranab Mukherjee, who was foreign minister in previous coalition, is the frontrunner for the job of finance minister. Mukherjee had been looking after finance since January when Prime Minister Singh underwent heart surgery.
Mukherjee is seen as a stable hand and shrewd political operator. He has a history of pushing reforms, including signing up to a WTO agreement giving nations more access to global trade in 1994 when he was commerce minister.
But, with India facing its slowest growth in six years and a yawning fiscal deficit, Singh, himself a reform-minded former finance minister, could bring in a specialist.
Names cited include Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, and C. Rangarajan, a former central bank governor and an economic adviser to the prime minister.
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Kamal Nath, who has played a key role as a negotiator for emerging nations in the struggling Doha round of global trade talks, may stay on as commerce and industry minister.
But Nath also could be named foreign minister, some TV channels said, and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal could replace him in trade.
India’s pro-farmer stand in the Doha round is unlikely to change significantly. But under Nath, India may be more inclined to offer concessions in opening up its market to foreign participation after leftist influence in government has ended.
FOREIGN
One contender could be Sibal, a reform-minded politician with a suave image that could go down well in foreign capitals.
Some media say senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid may also be considered. The Oxford-educated Khurshid was junior foreign minister from 1993-1996.
HOME
Palaniappan Chidambaram may stay. He is seen as having successfully revamped India’s security apparatus after last November’s Mumbai attacks.
DEFENCE
A.K. Antony, seen as an honest politician and another safe pair of hands with billions of dollars of arms deals in the pipeline, could keep his post.
TELECOMS & IT
Reform-minded Dayanidhi Maran and Andimuthu Raja, former telecoms ministers in the last government and both from key Congress party ally DMK, remain the top contenders for this post.
But the DMK is now embroiled in a row with Congress over ministerial positions, and has said it may extend only outside support to the coalition. The threat, however, is expected to be shortlived.
Maran carried out reforms when he was telecoms minister in the last Congress government and now faces the difficult task of a multi-billion dollar auction of third-generation spectrum that will allow users to have fast Internet on their mobile phones. The auction was to be in January but has been delayed.
INFORMATION & BROADCASTING
Local reports suggest Rahul Gandhi, heir-apparent of the Congress party, may be offered this position, regarded as a stepping stone for a man seen as a future prime minister.
The portfolio has added importance with the government expected to raise the foreign investment limit in the print media to 49 percent from the current 26 percent.
Key ministers likely in new government
May 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The Congress party-led alliance won about 260 seats of a total 543 parliamentary seats in a general election, and is expected to form a new government soon, retaining key ministerial portfolios within the party.
Here is a roundup of some key jobs that may see new heads, based on local media and Congress party officials.
FINANCE:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took over the finance portfolio last December after moving Palaniappan Chidambaram to head the Home Ministry following the Mumbai attacks.
With India facing its slowest growth in six years and a yawning fiscal deficit, it is expected Singh, a former finance minister and central bank governor, will bring in a specialist.
The names doing the rounds are C. Rangarajan, a former central bank governor and an economic adviser to the prime minister; and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Trade Minister Kamal Nath and Foreign Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee are also potential candidates, TV channels said.
TRADE:
Minister Kamal Nath is seen as key to India’s role as a leading negotiator for emerging nations in the struggling Doha round of talks and may retain his job.
Nath is also a contender for Foreign Minister, some TV channels said, with Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal a candidate for Trade.
FOREIGN:
Growing instability in old rival Pakistan, an unstable Nepal, the winding down of a 25-year-old war in Sri Lanka and Washington’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy that also requires India’s involvement are just some of the reasons why this will be a hot seat. Minister Pranab Mukherjee may retain his post.
HOME:
Security was not an issue in the election, but is clearly a concern for the government. Chidambaram is likely to retain his post.
RAILWAYS:
Colourful minister Lalu Prasad Yadav broke away from the Congress in his Bihar state. Yadav is unlikely to retain Railways, even though he is credited with turning around the loss-making behemoth and making it a Harvard business school case study.
Railways may instead go to Mamata Banerjee, the fiery leader of the Trinamool Congress which routed the left in West Bengal state.
DEFENCE:
With billion dollar defence deals lined up, AK Antony may be retained in his post, although some news reports suggest Farm Minister Sharad Pawar may get the job.
INFORMATION & BROADCASTING:
With minister Priyaranjan Das Munsi ill, Singh has held this portfolio and is likely to name a new man for the job. Local reports suggest Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to the Congress party, may be offered this plum position. Singh has said he will try and persuade Gandhi to take on a cabinet position.
Others likely to be named ministers include senior Congress ally Farooq Abdullah, former minister of state for trade Jairam Ramesh, and young Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot.
Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj win
May 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New Delhi, May 16 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj have won the Darjeeling and Vidisha parliamentary seats respectively.
Congress leaders Priya Dutt and Sachin Pilot have won their respective seats in Mumbai North-Central and Ajmer.
In the mean time, Congress leader Renuka Gandhi has lost the Khammam seat.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has won the Chhindwara parliamentary seat, while National Conference patron and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah won Srinagar seat.
In Tirupati, Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) chief and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi has won, while former UN undersecretary general and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor won the Thiruvanathapuram seat by 95,000 votes..
Senior Janata Dal- Secular (JD-S) leader H. D. Devegowda has retained the Hassan Lok Sabha seat, while Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav won the Kannauj seat by 1.11 lakh votes.
Independent candidate and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda has won the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat. (ANI)