Since the food subsidy is almost Rs 1,000 per person per year, there is a need for complete re-engineering of the existing public distribution system so as to ensure each and every grain reaches the right beneficiary, he said.
The government on Monday said that it was working towards a consensus on the issue of nominating a candidate for the Presidential polls expected to be held in July this year.
Gandhi, then a newly appointed Congress chief, had staked claim to form the government at the Centre after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999.
With this allocation of portfolios, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has got most of the 'plum' ministries.
Party sources said apart from the Railway and General Budget, the government wanted to initiate some key legislation during the session to send a political message to voters. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has also planned to hold a meeting of the secretaries of different ministries to know each ministry's priority agenda. "We have to set the government's agenda accordingly," Bansal said.
The Wankhede stadium finally threw its door open on Sunday. Understandably, there was a huge media gathering as officials took scribes around the renovated stands, newly-built players' dressing room, press box and various other facilities.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member, also bemoaned the conduct of Deputy Chairman Harivansh and the Modi government's decision of "bulldozing" the Opposition in the House.
An opinion poll conducted by India Today to find out who are India's hated politicians has revealed some interesting results. Recent attacks on Indian political leaders have exposed the growing discontent among the masses, who are fed up of rising prices and corruption.
The government would not extend export freight assistance to sugar mills beyond September, Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday. On August 29, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said the government must end assistance to sugar exporters since enough sugar had been exported out of the country.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group plans to develop Baramati, about 100 km from Pune, as a hub for private jets, with airports in Mumbai and Pune facing acute shortage of parking bays. Baramati is also the home town of Union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
The Cabinet's reluctance to approve the food and consumer affairs ministry's proposal to decontrol sugar is hard to understand -- especially when supplies are comfortable and set to improve further because of the dismantling of the sugar buffer of 5 million tonnes. Besides, the fresh crushing season is beginning next month. Yet, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has put on hold the move to do away with the 10 per cent sugar levy and the monthly release mechanism.
A single market regulator clearly has its own advantages over multiple regulators. But it is more suitable for well-developed and mature markets which are smaller in size, like the UK.
Under attack from Left parties and other allies like DMK, the government on Tuesday put on hold the decision to reduce quantity of foodgrains under the public distribution system that would have brought down food subsidy.
Supreme Court-appointed farm panel member Anil Ghanwat on Friday described as regressive the central government's decision to repeal the three farm laws which were at the centre of protests by farmers for the past year.
The Maharashtra unit of Aam Aadmi Party on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar for asking his party workers to "vote twice" in polls and sought derecognition of his party.
Pawar asked Modi why he was daring Opposition leaders to bring back Article 370 of the Constitution after it was nullified by Parliament in August.
A host of high-profile personalities from the world of politics and business on Sunday paid homage to late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on his first death anniversary at the ShivajiPark grounds in Mumbai.
Leaders at an all-party meeting on Maratha quota chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday passed a resolution asking activist Manoj Jarange to call off his indefinite fast.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said on Friday there was no Modi wave in the country but argued that the new government at the Centre should be stable in the larger interest of the economy and the country. He observed that development would be a major plank in the run up to the coming parliamentary elections.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who had recently deprecated Narendra Modi's condemnation over Gujarat riots, today took a U-turn and targeted BJP's PM candidate for "mass murder", drawing sharp criticism from the opposition party.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
Former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief Sharad Pawar could make a sensational return as president. There is talk that the Maharashtra politician could emerge an unlikely candidate to take on the suspended Narayanaswami Srinivasan.
The bi-annual elections of the Mumbai Cricket Association are unlikely to be held before October, its president Ravi Savant said in Mumbai, on Wednesday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the alleged derogatory word used by his cabinet colleague and state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar was "wrong" and it cannot be defended even as protests against Sattar continued on the second consecutive day.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that a section of farmers has fallen in the grip of a few people with "vested interests" and asserted that the government was working to address their misgivings about the reforms, which have drawn strong protests from a section of cultivators.
In an interview to television channel CNN-IBN, the Nationalist Congress Party chief said that the BJP will not be able to reap any benefits across the country by having Modi as its PM mascot.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed fast-tracking of major infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including building of two new airports and expansion of one.
In his letter in Marathi, which he has posted on Twitter, the veteran politician credited his mother for his ability to maintain healthy dialogues even with people holding differnt political ideologies.
Nationalist Congress Party will announce candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on January 21 and will retain majority of the sitting MPs, the party said on Monday.
The arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was "illegal" and a "witch-hunt", a special court in Mumbai said on Wednesday while granting him bail in the Patra Chawl redevelopment matter.
The government is likely to firm up next week a view on how to go about the food security bill. Indications to this effect were available on Wednesday with the government sources saying a decision will be taken only after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's return from Rome where he has gone to attend Food and Agriculture Organisation conference.
Dismissing claims that he is remote-controlling the MVA regime, Pawar said it is fully controlled by Thackeray and the latter's team.
Targeting Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar in the farmers' suicide belt of Amravati, Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Agriculture Minister has time to talk on cricket but has been "unable to save" farmers.
Badal's mortal remains were taken to the family's farmland, around a kilometer from his residence, on a flower-decked tractor-trolley with his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and other family members standing with folded hands as the vehicle moved past the mourners on the route.
The accused were allegedly complicit in causing losses to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore to MSCB between 2007 and 2011.
Putting up a brave face, former Member of Parliament and suspended Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi said on Saturday that he is not yet retired from politics and will become active at an appropriate time. He also said that it is too early to evaluate the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Sri Lanka on Saturday said it will not release over 200 Indian fishermen lodged in Colombo before the Indo-Lanka fisheries talks, scheduled in New Delhi later this week to resolve a major irritant in bilateral ties.
AAP is quite keen to repeat party chief Arvind Kejriwal's sterling victory against Delhi's former chief minister Sheila Dikshit by pitting Damania against Gadkari in the proposed high-profile contest.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday said its victory in the Navi Mumbai civic polls was significant as it managed to overcome the 90,000-vote deficit of the last year's Maharashtra assembly polls.
Congress leaders claim the rising price of onions is due to hoarding by pro-BJP traders. Renu Mittal reports
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