Keen to rejoin the Congress after being expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Harak Singh Rawat on Tuesday said he is ready to apologise to former chief minister Harish Rawat any number of times for the sake of Uttarakhand's interests.
'People in Punjab put their opinion very strongly there and it looks like they will fight. But, there is nothing like that, and they find solutions to their problems'
Harish Rawat, a Union Minister, was on Saturday sworn in as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, succeeding Vijay Bahuguna who was asked by the Congress high command to step down in a bid to boost the party's prospects ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha polls.
There are differences between the ministries of labour and finance on the issue.
Taxing the existing retirement benefits schemes would affect the working class, the labour ministry said.
A bill to raise the ceiling of gratuity for employees to Rs one million (Rs 10 lakh) from the current level of Rs 3,50,000 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The BJP expelled Harak Singh Rawat from the primary membership of the party for six years on Sunday amid speculations that he was joining the Congress.
'He has been made CM of Uttarakhand because everybody thinks he is not a challenge to anyone.'
The Labour and Employment Ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to keep Employee State Insurance and Employee State Insurance schemes out of the ambit of service tax as they are social security schemes.
The government on Monday said registration of job seekers in employment exchanges across the country has increased at an average rate of 56.67 lakh per annum during the last ten years and the incremental requirement of workforce would touch 198.7 million by 2022.
Nearly 2 lakh (200,000) engineers and 1.32 lakh (132,000) diploma holders were unemployed in 2007, the ministry of labour and employment told the Lok Sabha on Monday, and said that 15 million jobs would be created in public and private sectors by the end of Eleventh Plan.
Minister of State of Labour and Employment, Harish Rawat introduced the Employees' State Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2009, to carry out necessary changes in the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948.
Targetting to have 10 lakh (1 million) skilled workers in the country in the next five years, the government will set up 5,000 skill development centres nationwide and also 11 advanced training institutes for trainers.
Quoting a study conducted by the Department of IT in consultation with the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, it said that 'an estimated 2.25 million persons would be directly employed in the industry (IT) by 2015 as against 0.77 million in 2007'. Minister of state for labour and employment Harish Rawat told the Lok Sabha that incremental human resource requirement has been estimated to be around 1.5 million persons.
Soon after taking the oath of office, the newly-sworn in Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said his government is standing with farmers and will appeal to the Centre to withdraw the three farm laws.
In Haridwar, where he performed 'Ganga Aarti' at the famous Har Ki Pauri Ghat, Gandhi said, "We will give you a chief minister who comes to you, listens to your problems and runs the government accordingly."
Sidhu, who had been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, had stayed away from all Congress activities ever since he resigned as cabinet minister last year.
Even if they score administratively, state governments ruled by the party suffer from an inability to communicate positively, say observers.
Once a Congress-led government is formed at the Centre, the farm laws will be revoked and dumped into the 'dustbin', he said, addressing a gathering in the evening here on the conclusion of his 'Kheti Bachao Yatra' (save the farming march), which began from Punjab's Moga district on Sunday.
The 15 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the expanded Gehlot cabinet, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state's Congress government.
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