But India's outgoing foreign secretary should not be judged solely on what happened at Sharm El Sheikh.
According to a Cabinet minister, the UPA's focus during the remaining period of the Budget session will be on passing the Right to Education Bill. Apart from this, the government is planning to bring a Bill to amend the Rubber Act and the National Commission for Heritage Sites Bill. The government will be occupied till July 27 with the General Budget, as contained in the Finance Bill. It will actually not get more than seven days to deal with other legislative business.
Although the CPI-M has emphasised that the railway panel's post is its top choice, Congress floor managers have already conveyed to the comrades that 'it will be difficult' to fulfil their dreams. The CPI-M is likely to get the chairman's seat in the Standing Committee on coal and steel or energy.
The new foreign secretary brings formidable experience on Sino-Indian relations to South Block
Most of the Budget work is done; only some "final touches" remain. For those, he will soon sit with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh--who was governor of the Reserve Bank during Mukherjee's stint in North Block in the 80s--before his draft speech goes to print.
Running a state was a lot more treacherous than building roads.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat points out that states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have imposed a formal ban on the Naxalite organisations long ago. "But has the situation improved there? Their situation is similar to that of West Bengal," Karat told Business Standard.
Leaders from other state units are coming to VS's aid ahead of the party's crucial Central Committee meeting even as some ministers of his Cabinet have refused to work with him.
Among the aam aadmi measures, leaders sought an increase in the minimum support price mainly for sugarcane, income tax relief to the salaried class and more benefits to senior citizens. Suggestions were also made to increase subsidy for diesel for farmers and fishermen. Soft loans for minorities and SC/STs were also demanded. But issues like disinvestment, SEZ amendments, insurance bill or financial sector reforms were not discussed.
The story of how P Chidambaram got the home rather than the finance portfolio can be told now. The day the election results came out and it became clear the United Progressive Alliance was going to form the government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi called Pranab Mukherjee for a meeting and asked him what portfolio he would like.
The ambitious project of the urban development ministry, pegged at Rs 4,676 crore, was originally scheduled to be completed in 2015. It is to be executed through a joint venture company of the central and state government. Equity participation of the state and central government will be on a 50:50 basis. But soon after taking charge of the railway ministry, Banerjee had a talk with Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy about her apprehensions.
When the Civil Services Bill, 2009, becomes an Act, bureaucrats will no longer be at the mercy of the arbitrary transfers and postings regime that operates currently.The Civil Services Bill, 2009, which envisages an enforceable code of conduct for all bureaucrats through a new Central Public Services Authority, will be piloted immediately after the Budget session of the Lok Sabha.This will provide statutory backing to the conduct of all civil servants.
Last year, she drove the Tata Motors' Nano factory out from West Bengal. Three days ago, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee turned down another Tata offer a donation of Rs 27,70,660 to her party from the Tata Sons Electoral Trust.
As the sun slowly sets behind the skyline of factory buildings, a group of women enters the Vasantham Textiles mill in this industrial town. They position themselves behind their respective sewing machines to stitch T-shirts. But many machines in another corner of the large hall remain unattended.
LTTE and the Tamil cause was a stepping stone that Vaiko used just as other Tamil leaders did. For his exertions, he was thrown out of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam where, he claims, he fell a victim to family politics: he came in the way of Karunanidhi's son Stalin's elevation.
If the Third Front -- currently comprising nine parties opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- manages to get more seats than the Congress, the Communist Party of India - Marxist led Left Front will work towards ensuring that the next prime minister is made from this bloc.But if the Congress' own tally turns out to be larger than the cumulative strength of the alternative-seekers, the Left will support a Congressman for the top slot.
Will Vijayakanth act as a spoiler in Tamil Nadu politics? Or can he intervene in a meaningful way to upset the apple carts of both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), led by Muthuvel Karunanidhi, and the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK), led by Jayalalithaa?
Brawn triumphed over brain last week as the Bharatiya Janata Party announced, after "consultations" with "foreign policy experts", that it was for a "muscular" foreign policy so that "nobody thinks they can mess with India".
While they are trying to unite different parties to form a non-Bharatiya Janata Party, non-Congress alliance at the Centre, the Communist Party of India - Marxist and the Communist Party of India on Monday intensified their tussle over the Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency in northern Kerala's Mallapuram district.After the CPI announced its intention two days earlier to field its own candidate from that seat, the CPI-M's Central Committee today put its foot down.
Jairam Ramesh, who gave up ministership to design the Congress campaign and manifesto, talks to Aditi Phadnis about the 2009 general elections.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances