Countering Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's statement on introducing Bt brinjal in the market, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Centre has every right to take the final decision when public safety is concerned.
Radhakrishnan defeated INDIA bloc nominee Justice B Sudershan Reddy by 152 votes in the Vice Presidential elections held between 10 am and 5 pm on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday and asked him to explain why he had made the uncalled-for comments earlier.
Reflecting the unease in party over praise of Aam Aadmi Party by its leaders, a Congress leader on Friday likened it to early days of Lalu Prasad's rule in Bihar in the nineties while another slammed Union minister Jairam Ramesh for praising Arvind Kejriwal's party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee strongly retorted as 'distasteful' the taunt by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh while releasing the fourth installment of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act funds to her state that 'this reflects how sensitive the so-called 'brain-dead government in Delhi' is to the needs of the people of West Bengal'.
After being reprimanded by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his controversial remarks in China, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh met Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday and is said to have clarified the context of the statement.
Aasked to specify such projects which are passing through tiger corridor or forest areas, Jairam Ramesh said that one is in Madhya Pradesh and the other is in Assam.
Sources said a couple of resolutions are expected to be passed at the crucial meeting, with an eye on the upcoming Bihar polls.
The BJP went on to add that India actually required 'world-class ministers'.
Inclusion of human pathogens in biodiversity and the use of derivatives of bio-resources are the non-negotiables for India at the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity, wherein the country plans to fight for a legally-binding agreement on biodiversity.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday alleged that officials of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests took bribes from the state's mine-owners before Jairam Ramesh took over the ministry.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday attacked the media for reporting that he had offered to quit the government and work for the party, calling it "juvenile" and refusing to answer any political questions.
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh is back in the Congress's high-profile Group on Future Challenges, which also has Rahul Gandhi as its prominent member. Ramesh, who was earlier the convener of the Group, was dropped after its first meeting late last year, without any official explanation. Confirming his return, senior party leader M Veerappa Moily, who heads the panel said, "Ramesh is now a member of the group".
Opposing 'regularisation of illegality' which he described as 'a peculiar Indian characteristic', Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said that many times he too has been forced to compromise in cases of violations of green norms.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who has been under fire over his comments on the home ministry's stance on China, has offered to resign.But the Congress top brass has refused to accept his resignation, sources said. Ramesh got into trouble after he criticised the home ministry of being 'overly defensive' and 'alarmist' in its approach towards the entry of Chinese companies in India, while on a visit to Beijing last week.
The Congress on Tuesday took strong objection to the criticism directed at it by the Indian envoy to Ireland while responding to an Irish daily's editorial, saying that attacking opposition parties openly in a manner like a 'party apparatchik' was 'disgraceful behaviour' and the ambassador should be sacked.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh hit out at Opposition-backed candidate P A Sangma and one of his key backers Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for playing the tribal card in the Presidential polls.
In an unprecedented move which has left many red faces within the Congress party, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has publicly taken on the prime minister, the prime minister's office, and a senior party colleague alleging in black and white that under pressure he has to tolerate 'irregularities.'
The Parliament premises will sport a new look when the 18th Lok Sabha convenes for its maiden session in June as work is underway to integrate the entire complex, comprising four different buildings.
The Kyoto Protocol is the "make or break" issue for UN climate talks in Cancun, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, as he pointed not only Japan but many other countries are opposed to continuation of the treaty that legally binds industrialised nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"This year the Ministry has received 579 proposals from all the State Governments under the National Afforestation Programme out of which 270 have been accorded sanction," Jairam said.
A group of retired judges has criticized Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks about opposition vice-presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy and the Salwa Judum judgement, calling them 'unfortunate'.
Agri export zones need to be replaced by a structure capable of pursuing a more pro-active marketing strategy and social organisation to increase agricultural exports and deliver benefits back to farmers.
The Congress on Tuesday claimed that there are "far deeper reasons" for Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation as the vice president than the health reasons cited by him, and said his resignation speaks highly of him but poorly of those who got him elected to the post.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh tendered written apologies to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for his recent remarks on the Union Home Ministry's functioning.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh for calling the former a 'super chief minister'.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said he is not sure countries like the United States are prepared for sustainable development which for people of developing countries like India is a question of livelihood.
Orissa can now divert forest land for the steel project.
While the tiger will most likely not go extinct in the next half-century, its current trajectory is catastrophic. A combination of poor governance, bureaucratic sloth and lack of leadership is leading us towards an ecological disaster.
The poll is witnessing a direct contest between ruling NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy, with the BJP-led alliance having a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
The present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. This puts the majority mark at 391. The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has the backing of 324.
In a 14-page letter to Mayawati, Ramesh cited the instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar.
Raising questions over construction of Commonwealth Games Village and Akshardham Temple on the banks of the Yamuna River, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the former should not have been given environmental clearance while the Temple never even applied for it.
A notice issued on Monday to the Andhra Pradesh government to put on hold the government project is, in fact, meant to help out the Opposition-ruled states of Orissa and Chhattisgarh whose land is threatened to be submerged because of the project.
Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh was on Sunday gheraoed in Hyderabad by people opposed to the introduction of Bt Brinjal in the country.The protesters from Left-affiliated farmers' outfits and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch raised slogans like 'Bt Go Back' and mobbed the minister on the dais at an event organised at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in Hyderabad.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted Pitroda's decision.
He described how India had negotiations with US for almost 36 hours over the words of the Accord.
The heightened activity on permissions to power and mining projects, which had been stuck for long, coincides with the run-up to a likely reshuffle of the council of ministers this month.
New lower GST rates kicked in from Monday, resulting in a slashing of prices of as many as 375 items ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to cars and television sets, a move seen as an attempt to boost consumption to cushion an economy facing tariff headwinds. Tax rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent have been clubbed into two rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, resulting in a reduced price of 99 per cent of daily use items.
A no-nonsense high profile minister, Ramesh, an IIT alumnus and an environmentalist, was perhaps the country's first independent thinking environment minister
