The EGoM meeting, attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Food Minister K V Thomas among others, reviewed the situation in drought-hit states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
These decisions were announced by food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues were briefed on the monsoon situation and Kharif sowing. Allaying fears of shortage of foodgrain, Pawar said, "Stock position is quite comfortable. We have sufficient stock position for 13 months in our kitty".
The extent of the government's concern about inflation was evident at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Prices, which started at 8 pm on Monday and went on past 12 midnight. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath challenged Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to explain why wheat import this season had been delayed.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has rubbished suggestions that coalitionpartner Nationalist Congress Party has put pressure on him to give clearance to Lavasa Hill city project.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Onkar Singh on Wednesday, Chaturvedi spoke at length about the allegations. Excerpts:
With huge stocks and a possible record output this year, the Centre will soon take a decision whether to allow export of wheat, which was banned in early 2007, Food And Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here on Thursday
Promising increased allocation for agriculture in the next Budget, the government on Friday called for enhanced public and private sector investment to speed up growth in the sector.
Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said his party would go it alone in the zilla parishad polls in Maharashtra, if Congress was not keen to have an alliance.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on the sidelines of the Eighth National Conference on Krishi Vigyan Kendras 2013, Pawar also ruled out the possibility of traders exporting onions to other countries where prices are less than India.
An Empowered Group of Ministers on drought headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday approved Rs 1,207-crore relief package to Maharashtra. "Rs 1,207 crore drought relief package has been approved for Maharashtra," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who is also a member of the EGoM, told PTI after the meeting of the minister.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit recently met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar urging him to ban onion export from Maharashtra and re-direct the vegetable to New Delhi to keep the prices steady.
Last month, the agriculture ministry had projected 10 per cent fall in kharif foodgrains production at 117.18 million tonnes in view of poor rains and drought in more than 360 taluks in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had sent in a request to the President for visiting Baramati in Maharashtra to see the all round development made in the areas of agriculture, irrigation and town planning.
The 10-member GoM headed by external affairs minister and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will include defence minister A K Antony, Home Minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, communications minister A Raja, railway minister Lalu Prasad, chemical and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan, law and justice minister H R Bhardwaj, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Congress rebel Jaganmohan Reddy's mother Vijayamma on Thursday met leaders of political parties seeking their support in her campaign against the alleged harassment of her jailed son and complained to Chief Vigilance Commissioner about the "ulterior motive" of CBI in the case.
FinMin had objected and wanted existing cost-plus method retained.
An emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night took no decision on the vexed Telengana.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has urged Union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar to resign from the Union cabinet and come to Maharashtra to protect the interest of farmers reeling under drought.
The Election Commission on Monday issued a notice to Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar for alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct for the October 13 assembly elections in Maharshtra.
The United Progressive Alliance's first anniversary celebrations tomorrow are essentially going to be a Congress affair. Barring Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, no other top leader of any of the ally or supporting parties is expected to be present at the bash to mark six years in office of the Congress-led coalition.
The government has washed its hands off rising onion prices with Union ministers not sounding too sympathetic.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday mocked Maharashtra's Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for not clearing pending files in time and not taking decisions promptly.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Monday held Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar responsible for the unprecedented rise in food prices in India.
Following Sonia Gandhi's suggestion, the percentage of landowners, whose consent is necessary for acquiring land for private purpose, has been raised from 67 per cent to 80 per cent in the proposed bill.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has taken a major share of the pie of the Empowered Group of Ministers and Group of Ministers after the exit of Pranab Mukherjee.
Dabhol is part of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN reiterated that he is not going to contest the next Lok Sabha elections.
Pawar said the Union Cabinet has already decided last week to reschedule crop loans of farmers in the affected drought areas with reduced interest rate of 7 per cent.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will meet the chief secretaries of all states in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the drought-like situation in the country.The meeting will be attended by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar. Issues like the status of monsoon, the sowing operation in the ongoing kharif season and the availability of vital farm inputs like seeds, fertilisers, water and electricity will be reviewed.
When the industrial crisis engulfed developed countries and the financial meltdown became a major financial crisis all over the world, it had its worst impact, the minister said adding that credit is required for investment, for carrying business and using it for productive purposes.
Coming down heavily on the Centre for rise in prices of essential commodities, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's announcement to convene a meeting on the issue was like "starting digging a well to extinguish the fire".
The Union government has reconstituted the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as its chairman.
Posco was cleared because it is India's largest FDI project and the South Korean government lobbied for it. Such things don't happen in democracies which respect the rule of law, says Praful Bidwai.
Acknowledging that the situation regarding prices of food items is serious, the government said on Friday it was taking long and short term measures and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon convene a meeting of chief ministers to address the problem.
India on Wednesday ruled out the need to import wheat this year, as it appears poised to surpass the 15 million tons procurement target. Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said that the govt is confident of procuring 16-17 million tons of wheat this year. As per govt estimate wheat production was pegged at 76.78 million tons for 2007-08 crop year ending May this year. He noted that wheat price is stable due to ample availability backed by a bumper production.
The government is planning to provide collateral-free loan up to Rs 1.50 lakh to farmers through the Kisan Credit Card scheme.
Raising questions over "conflict of interest" if a minister is a member of a cricket body, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed impleading the Union Government in a PIL seeking levy of entertainment tax on Indian Premier League matches and allowed making Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar a party to the case.
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