Leading corporate house Reliance Industries has kept its lobbying activities among US lawmakers on hold for the fourth quarter in a row, after having paid nearly $2 million to its lobbyist in Washington in past few years.
Corporate giant Reliance Industries Ltd has stopped lobbying with US lawmakers for the last two quarters, while the Indian government incurred an expense of Rs 3.7 crore (Rs 37 million) for such activities during the last financial year ended March 31, 2012.
A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to formally arrest Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise scam.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Steel baron Lakshmi Mittal has spent millions of dollars for lobbying with US lawmakers on a variety of issues, including support for action against China's unfair trading practices and export restrictions.
Journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi Wednesday sought to dissociate from his alleged role in the Israeli diplomat attack case by claiming in a Delhi court "the international petroleum lobby and some rogue elements in the government had carried out the attack to spoil the relations between India and Iran."
Former Army Chief Gen VK Singh on Thursday alleged that the arms lobby had become "very powerful" and was now a part of the "system" in the country.
"I don't believe Indian lobby has any influence on the bill," said Robert Hathaway, Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre. Speaking during a dialogue arranged by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Hathaway said media reports regarding New Delhi's participation in the formulation of the legislation were 'false'.
The issue of foreign direct investment in retail came to haunt the government again in Parliament with a united Opposition demanding an inquiry and reply from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on reports of Wal-Mart spending huge money to lobby for entry into the Indian market.
The CBI on Thursday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in connection with a corruption case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, officials said.
The nonproliferation and disarmament lobby in the United States, which has been vehemently opposed to the India-US civilian nuclear agreement, is ready to pop open the champagne to celebrate.The nonproliferation lobby is elated as the demise of the agreement is close at hand, with even senior members of the Bush administration acknowledging that the clock has all but run out on the deal.
Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh on Monday said that none of the leaders of his party can ever indulge in lobbying with foreign companies for they do not know English, and added that the Indian government must thoroughly investigate the lobbying disclosure report filed by Walmart.
Reports of Walmart engaging lobbying firms to get entry into India and demand for quota in promotion in government jobs rocked Parliament leading to washout of Question Hour in both Houses.
"On the US side, I don't have any reason to believe that we have a violation of US law here. With regard to the Indian side, I'll refer you to them," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Monday, categorically dismissing allegations by Indian opposition parties in this regard.
The group has called for a retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the 'unilateral and discriminatory' equalisation levy or Google Tax.
'It was specifically mentioned in the Gadgil Committee report that this particular area where the colossal landside happened now should be in the Environmentally Sensitive Area under Zone 1.' 'Zone 1 is the most important and ecologically sensitive area, and that it has to be protected entirely.' 'At least 90% of the Wayanad disaster is man-made.'
At a press briefing at Washington DC's National Press Club on the eve of the IAEA board of governors meeting, nonproliferation experts called on the NSG not to reach a consensus on the accord, since it was 'seriously flawed and would undermine the professed objectives of the NSG'
The influential pro-Pakistan lobby has launched a concerted campaign urging US President Barack Obama to visit Pakistan during his trip to India November 6-9.
Former Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana high court will submit report in three months.
In a bid to convince US lawmakers to put pressure on Pakistan to take action against perpetrators of Mumbai attacks, a group of Indian Americans have decided to hold 'Washington Lobby Day' on January 27. The objective is to 'show the US Members of Congress that Indian Americans and all Americans are expressing their strong support for the victims of the Mumbai attacks and for continued US-India efforts on the war against terrorist organisations based in Pakistan,' Chairman of
Businesses have resumed but it's not business as usual in the capital city of Bangladesh.
The last time India sat on the Council, the Soviet Union was still a country and the first US invasion of Iraq was a taste of things to come in the new world order.
However, Federation of Indian Airlines will continue to function and its other members are not pulling the plug yet, industry sources said.
The Indian Steel Alliance, the high-profile lobby group for big producers representing approximetly half of India's steel production, is being dissolved, seven years after it was set up to promote steel usage in the country. On Sunday, state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd had pulled out of ISA in a bid to distance itself from the recent price-rise controversy and had said the alliance had outlived its utility.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar hit out at the green lobby for opposing every new project under the garb of environment protection.
Others like IBM, Coke and Pepsi also lobby for foreign markets.
Beginning its campaign in India, the Global Institutional Investors Forum said that Mauritius was fully supporting India's fight against black money and money laundering and it was 'a clean, transparent jurisdiction of substance.'
Even as the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress appeared to have overcome some of their differences on Wednesday, it is being stated that the real reason for the former's unhappiness seems to lie somewhere closer to home: in Maharashtra.
'Now it's for India to also make certain decisions. The sky's the limit. You've got to be strategic.'
The new scheme, promoting manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) by global majors, will give a fillip to companies like Tesla and its upstart rival Vinfast, both of whom have lobbied for lower import duties from the Centre. While Vinfast has already announced an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to set up an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Tamil Nadu, Tesla's next move will be watched carefully. Four years ago, Musk announced that his company would come to India.
You see the Thar is not just a Car.... It is The Thar.
Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) has dissociated itself from the GSM lobby's stance on spectrum, stating there is no merit in the demand for additional spectrum.
The panel, headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal, held its fourth meeting here today. It was attended by Walmart representatives and senior officials from the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, among others.
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
With Karnataka Chief Minister-designate Siddaramaiah all set to install his Cabinet next week, lobbying for ministerial berths has intensified.
The panelists expressed their views at a national workshop on 'Reforms in Environmental Regulation' organised in New Delhi with an aim to provide a platform to discuss the proposed role of National Environment Protection Authority.
The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) on Wednesday held an inter-ministerial meeting with various departments to discuss issues regarding revenue sharing between Big Tech companies and digital news publishers, according to sources. The meeting - chaired by I&B Secretary Sanjay Jaju - invited senior officials from the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Competition Commission of India (CCI), ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) and departments of promotion of industry and internal trade, legal affairs and consumer affairs.
'He had a lovely, lovely, sense of humour, very subdued and very, very subtle, but it was very, very, prominent.'
