The Kashmir valley has 24,000 hotel rooms. On Residency Road of Srinagar, just four rooms in Ahdoo's Hotel are occupied. "This is the peak tourist season. In May and early July, we had full occupancy, and even had to refuse new bookings. Suddenly, everything changed," says its manager. A veteran taxi driver says the Grand Hotel, on the opposite side, hasn't had a single guest over the past few days.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while being enumerated for Census 2011 last week, said the data from this massive exercise would be a treasure house of information to help the government plan development work.
Senior railway officials feel this interest of the international community came after Banerjee unveiled policies to seek private investment in rail projects.
The Manmohan Singh government may have to take a legislative holiday on at least controversial issues till the next Budget session. Or it needs to get a lot more creative on coalition building. The reason is that the ruling United Progressive Alliance does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, and has to depend on an unpredictable opposition for help in passing Bills. In the Lok Sabha, although it is larger, it can face some unpleasant surprises.
The Direct Taxes Code 2009 is now on the back burner. The Union finance ministry has veered round to the view that its bold move to reform direct taxes should be subjected to further scrutiny. Contrary to earlier expectations, therefore, the Direct Taxes Code 2009 will not be presented to Parliament as a Bill along with the Union Budget for 20010-11on February 26.
Though the terms of reference of the committee to look into the creation of a Telangana state may come in the next few days, the Congress is worried about the 'political' price it may have to pay for moving too fast on the statehood issue.
In the turf war between the battered Communist Party of India-Marxist and its arch rival, Trinamool Congress, veteran Congressman and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has found a new place of prominence.
Over the next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to review the performance of his ministerial colleagues in their first six months in office. This review exercise could be a precursor to a Cabinet reshuffle, the first since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government entered its second term in office.
Jyoti Basu, the 95-year-old communist, has lost touch with many of his comrades. But this morning the former chief minister of West Bengal did not forget to call his favourite Congressman to say, "Happy Birthday!"
Acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who headed the Cabinet meeting on Monday, quickly came in support of Chidambaram and ruled against implementing the new system. Unlike other countries, the headline inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index, which measures the price movements of 435 items, is tracked widely instead of the Consumer Price Index as WPI data are released on a weekly basis.
Breaks self-imposed rule never to return to an office he has occupied in the past.
According to top sources, the government is all prepared to lower the prices of diesel, petrol and cooking gas after the polling is over for the last phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on December 24. As the global crude prices have dipped to $55 per barrel now, petroleum ministry officials say even a Rs 2 to Rs 3 per litre cut in diesel prices would bring down inflation 60 to 70 basis points (100 basis points is equal to one percentage point).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might have succeeded in saving a few thousand jobs in corporate India when he met industry captains last week, Jet Airways may well have retained its 1,900 employees, but here in the hinterland of Uttar Pradesh -- famed as the carpet hub of India -- the poor are being retrenched in thousands.
General elections are likely to be held in April next year, which has been emerging as the most acceptable option in the Congress camp as the party and its United Progressive Alliance government are apprehensive about the ripple effects of the global economic slowdown on India and want time to enable this to abate.
After the Centre's announcement that Maharashtra will get a French-built nuclear power plant, West Bengal could be the next in line for this central gift. But there is a problem: The plant is likely to be American-built. So, the Left-ruled government in the state is thinking if it wants to give land for a reactor built by the Americans.
According to party sources, the situation is more or less beyond repair. "We can forcibly remove Mamata Banerjee's agitators from Singur within a few hours. But it seems the Tatas have developed cold feet. After whatever has happened over the last few weeks, it is almost impossible to convince the Tatas to stay back in Bengal and restart the Nano project," said a central committee leader of the party.
Speaking at a rally at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, Sonia Gandhi said her party was not against land acquisition for industry. "But farmers should be given adequate compensation. They should also be given stakes in the projects coming up on their land," she said.
JWT, Crayons in race for Congress account, BJP calls for a pitch.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has been consistent in warning the party against high prices and has asked government leaders to act fast. She has been assured the inflation rate will come down to single digits from the current 12.14 per cent around November-December. Party sources say the recent blasts in Delhi will be one reason the elections may be called only in February.
In what would be a significant boost to the domestic entertainment industry, the United States has been roped in as the partner country for the 2009 Ficci Frames - the annual global convention on the entertainment and media industry that is partly sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It will be the tenth year of Ficci Frames next year.
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