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.
The Indian government has revoked the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was held under the National Security Act following protests in Ladakh.
The 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance in Bihar is expected to finalize its seat-sharing arrangement and announce candidates along with a joint manifesto soon. Talks between RJD and Congress are ongoing, with potential meetings in Delhi. The Congress is aiming for a respectable number of seats and highlighting the desire for change in Bihar.
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.
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.
He described how India had negotiations with US for almost 36 hours over the words of the Accord.
Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh tells Sanjeeb Mukherjee that the Ordinance to amend the land acquisition Act (2013) opens the door for forcible acquisition and undermines the spirit and the substance of the legislation.
Amid the controversy raging over the definition of poverty, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday claimed that they have resolved the issue.
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.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the G7 Summit of the presidents of the US and France; the prime ministers of the UK, Japan, Italy and Canada; and the Chancellor of Germany is taking place in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada, from June 15.
The Congress party has strongly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks regarding the dropping of stanzas from 'Vande Mataram' in 1937, calling his statements shameful and demanding an apology. The party argues that Rabindranath Tagore himself suggested adopting the first two stanzas of the song.
Bidhuri's responsibility will be akin to the party's poll in-charge of the district, sources said.
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
While Ramesh shared a poem critical of the Scindia family, the Union minister told the Congress leader to study history more than poetry.
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.
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.
A no-nonsense high profile minister, Ramesh, an IIT alumnus and an environmentalist, was perhaps the country's first independent thinking environment minister
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said action against Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai for violation of green norms will be taken in the next two-three days.
As Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh faces flak back home for his support to boosting trade with Beijing, the Chinese media has come out in his favour pressing for removal of "needless restrictions" on country's investment in India.
The moratorium imposed on Bt brinjal last year is likely to continue, despite the expert committee, set up by the environment ministry, favouring "limited release" of the crop.
Laying out a road map for reducing the "trust deficit," between the two blocs on climate negotiations, Ramesh said there must be some visible triggers that get activated very soon to ensure that Cancun does not repeat Copenhagen.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday announced a proposal to ban trade of peacock feathers to protect the national bird from illegal poaching and killing.
Tea exports during the current calendar year are likely to be hit by the rising rupee and payment problems in Iraq, Minister of state for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.
This follows an hour-long meeting Jaiswal had with Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh for resolving major issues hurting coal production.
After months of uncertainty, there is finally a glimmer of hope for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport. Environment & Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh told a TV channel today that he had already spoken to his counterpart in the aviation ministry, Praful Patel, and hoped "to find a compromise soon". "There will be an agreement. Our team is going to Navi Mumbai," Ramesh said.
"The polluter must pay and polluter will pay. Studies by different institutions have been commissioned for ascertaining the impact of the oil spill on the fishery sector and other economic losses," said Ramesh, replying to questions on the oil spill resulting from the collision of vessels on August 7.
Singh spoke to Ramesh and emphatically told him that there was 'no confusion' in the government over its approach towards China with which it wanted to have 'constructive engagement'.
As a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh since 2004, he has been putting all his Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) money in the SHG programmme in the state each year, and continues to do so.
Rejecting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's charge that his demand for Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act implementation was "politically motivated", Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said he would not hesitate to recommend similar investigation even in Congress-ruled states.
Taking a dig at developments in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh described Narendra Modi as 'Bhasmasur', a mythological character known for trying to destroy his creator, and said the Gujarat Chief Minister has "consumed" his mentor L K Advani.
The Congress party has criticized the Modi government's approach to China following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, questioning whether the government is legitimizing Chinese aggression.
Admitting that India and other emerging economies' stand was considerably different from the 43 countries in the Alliance of Small Island States, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that India had no major differences with the United States. He noted that India was not having a major standoff with the United States but the real differences existed between the China and the developed world as well as the between European Union and the United States.
The government is in the final stage of notifying the fuel efficiency standards for automobile sector in the country which will be enforced from 2011, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.
Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday refuted reports that he wanted Rahul Gandhi to apologise to the Muslim community for his controversial remarks that ISI was having links with Muzaffarnagar riot-hit youths, saying that his comments were twisted by the media.
Last month, the FAC passed the buck to the tribal affairs ministry to see if the project proponents violated any tribal rights.
The government on Friday continued its efforts to evolve consensus on the contentious land acquisition bill as Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh met Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley and CPM's Sitaram Yechury seeking their support.
Why, then, do ministers like Ramesh and Tharoor talk so much and out of turn?
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has worked for weeks to prepare speeches and the Congress' Jaipur Declaration. "This is the Obama moment of the Congress, where the party is re-energised with the rise of young leadership," he said.
Media reports claimed the CVC is probing a Rs 14-crore "scam" in ICHR and has advised the government to act against some members of the ABISY.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday made a strong pitch for roping in organisations like those run by Catholic Church to bring development in Maoist-hit areas but asked them to respect the 'Lakshman Rekha' and not engage in "religious mobilisation".
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