On a day when a full-page email interview with the prime minister appeared in the Hindustan Times, the National Advisory Council, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, on Friday slammed the United Progressive Alliance government for not implementing a score of its recommendations, including food security to all, made in the past two years.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday claimed that India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal had approached him in the past to push his name for a position in the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was on Monday appointed the chairperson of the National Advisory Council, four years after she quit the post in the wake of the office of profit controversy.
Food security, minority welfare and legislation to deal with communal violence ranked high in the 14-point focus area listed by the newly-constituted National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi at its first meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system (PDS) in rural areas.
The National Advisory Council, chaired by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, met for the second time on Thursday after its recent revival and unanimously endorsed the idea of universal access to the public distribution system in rural areas. It was agreed that a universalised PDS should be implemented initially in 150 districts, a member said.
The National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi favoured drastic amendments to the Communal Violence Bill and recommended the creation of a national authority to check communal and sectarian violence. This was the view expressed by most members of the NAC at its meeting chaired by Gandhi. At its next meeting, the NAC is expected to deliberate on how a national authority could set up within the framework of the Constitution.
Noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander and academician Madhav Gadgil have been denied re-nomination.
Members have to discharge various public responsibilities by holding such positions," the party Polit Bureau said in a statement.
She has also resigned as chairperson of the NAC.
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting that the proposed national policy for domestic workers should ensure a daily minimum wage without sex discrimination, weekly offs and paid annual leave.
Social activist Aruna Roy has decided not to continue in the United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council after her term expires on Friday.
The erstwhile divestment commission to be now be replaced by the BRPSE.
The head of the Congress's first family has never been an astute politician, points out Amulya Ganguli.
Once considered the unlikely heir to the political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving president of India's grand old party.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was taken ill on Monday, was back in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to attend the debate on Land Acquisition Bill but did not participate in voting the legislation which was being pushed by the National Advisory Council headed by her.
The government is likely to give a legal right to food to both priority and general categories of the population under the proposed National Food Security Act, as suggested by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC).
After the exit of Aruna Roy, government has reconstituted the National Advisory Council by inducting renowned sociologist Virginius Xaxa into the 12-member panel chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The horrifying state of hunger in India adds urgency to the need to implement a new food security law, writes Praful Bidwai.
Pitching for better integration of children from disadvantaged groups in private schools, the NAC favoured widening the definition of 'disadvantaged' to include groups such as migrant and street children, children in conflict regions and children of manual scavengers. At the NAC meeting, member Anu Aga, convener of the Working Group on Right to Education, made a presentation on its recommendations to improve RTE.
National Advisory Committee-pushed plan might be part of Budget 2013-14.
She asserted that it is the duty of the prime minister to monitor progress in any deal or project and if the PMO checks on these, it cannot be termed as interference.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
NGOs have acquired a certain critical mass and are increasingly becoming powerful voices in public discourse.
The Prime Minister's expert committee on National Food Security Bill on Thursday recommended that the assured delivery of wheat at Rs 2/kg and rice at Rs 3/kg could be given only to poor and expressed difficulty in accommodating general category in view of projected food availability.
If Manmohan Singh was hobbled by allegations of sleaze and a stagnant economy, Modi faces the twin challenges of high unemployment and an uncertain and potentially volatile situation in Kashmir, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'The Maharashtrian Congressmen's decision to break away from their reluctant leaders in Delhi to side with the Shiv Sena is seemingly the first sign that the 'high command' is not as powerful as is believed,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Handed over the charge of BJP's campaign in the next Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi on Sunday virtually sounded the election bugle as he targeted the UPA government over various fronts and asked party cadres to work for "Congress-free Bharat Nirman".
In his book Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer, makes a dig at Hardeep Singh Puri, former diplomat, Union minister and BJP nominee from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, for Rajiv's faulty Sri Lankan policy, writes Rasheed Kidwai.
Kanika Datta explains why the Modi sarkar is gunning for non-profit organisations
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that his government is in touch with the Uttar Pradesh authorities on the controversy surrounding IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal and that laid down rules will be followed.
Singh was widely regarded as an expert in the rural and agricultural landscape of the country and is credited with the conceptualisation and implementation of the NREGA (National Rural Guarantee Employment) Act.
