Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that although there is a huge gap in the prices of spectrum for 2G and 3G services, the whole issue needs to be seen in proper perspective.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday condoled the loss of lives in the Air India Express flight crash in Mangalore and announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed.
On a visit to New Delhi a year after UPA-II assumed office, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday backed Telecom Minister A Raja and virtually ruled out the demand of the Opposition for his resignation over the 2G spectrum controversy.
Divestment of public sector companies gathered steam in the first year of UPA-II that saw two PSUs-- Oil India and NHPC-- raising around Rs 8,600 crore (Rs 86 billion) from IPOs and the way was cleared for divestment in three more state-run power companies in the new year.
The move, if it goes through, will be warmly welcomed by foreign media houses which have been looking to enter India, one of the world's fastest growing economies. The domestic media barons, however, are likely to oppose the move.
Senior Congress leader Hans Raj Bhardwaj on Thursday made a direct attack on party president Sonia Gandhi alleging that she "shared no responsibility" and was in the "grip of sycophants and corrupt people".
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
'If businesses are focused on de-leveraging, they can hardly be investing. This is the price extracted by investment mistakes during UPA rule, and should have been foreseen. 'But Modi-I must share the blame, for muted reform of the financial sector, partisan policy in telecom, the harm done to exports by an over-priced rupee, and so on,' says T N Ninan.
Manmohan Singh, reveals the former President, was keen that either P Chidambaram or Montek Singh Ahluwalia be the finance minister.
The inflows came higher in March than in February of 2019-20 despite the lockdown for a week, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
The BJP's strategy seem to be to wean away allies from the Congress, in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, and maybe later in UP, Bihar and elsewhere, though in slow doses, but without wooing them into a new alliance. The idea seems to be only to weaken the INDIA bloc from within -- and leaving it at that, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati will boycott the United Progressive Alliance-II anniversary celebrations and the subsequent dinner in New Delhi on Saturday.
Fernandes was hospitalised in July after suffering a fall while doing yoga at his house.
The Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) stormed to power in Mizoram by dethroning the Mizo National Front (MNF) bagging 27 seats in the 40-member House on Monday.
The BJP is now inventing new angles to keep its campaign relevant -- even if it's old wine in an old bottle, which is what the allegation on 'Katchatheevu' is, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra successfully resurrected the Rahul Gandhi brand.' 'There's a critical mass that has built up for the Congress and Mr Modi is feeling the heat on the Adani issue, the raids on the BBC offices, the Opposition getting together.'
Smarting under its recent electoral debacle, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will make a token representation at the second anniversary celebrations of the United Progressive Alliance II in New Delhi on Sunday evening. None of its six Union ministers will be present at the event
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met President Pranab Mukherjee in the backdrop of the UPA pitching for Leader of Opposition status for her party in Lok Sabha.
'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has justified the Narendra Modi government's move to raise the rail fare by 14.2 per cent, saying it was a result of the policies undertaken by the previous United Progressive Alliance government. In an exclusive interview to CNN IBN, Prasad blamed the UPA II government for leaving Indian Railways in shambles, adding that his government never knew that the railways was bleeding, thanks to the Congress-led regime.
My aim will be to get the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, recently cleared by the cabinet, tabled and passed in Parliament, says Girija Vyas.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
At present, a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder in the national capital costs Rs 1,103. It will cost Rs 903 when the Centre's decision is implemented from Wednesday.
"What the legislature cannot do is to say that we think the judgment is wrong and therefore we overrule the judgment. The judgment of a court cannot be directly overruled by the legislature," the CJI said.
'Mumbai main branch (SBI headquarter) has all the data ready-made. It doesn't take even an hour to out the data from the system.'
Sources said Sircar, who was appointed on the post in 2012 by the UPA-II government, has written a letter to I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in this regard.
A bench of Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna said it would hear the arguments of the Enforcement Directorate on Chidambaram's two petitions, including the challenge to remand orders, on Wednesday.
In a major jolt to India's solar energy programme, the Rajasthan government might cancel the 4,000-Mw solar UMPP (ultra mega power project), which was expected to come up near Sambhar Lake.
Denied of any relief from the UPA-II government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday pinned her hopes on the new BJP government at the Centre for a positive response on the state's huge debt repayment problem.
Just weeks ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Singh quit the Congress party on Tuesday and joined the BJP, in a setback for the grand old party.
Several Opposition leaders have rallied behind Gandhi and hit out at the government and accused the BJP of targeting political opponents.
The coming weeks are sure to have a lot of drama unfolding in Maharashtra, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday made a veiled attack on Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal, telling them "neither populism nor individualism" is an alternative way of governance and expressed confidence that people will entrust responsibility to a "hand" that works for equity.
The former defence minister said that all formalities were completed and all orders issued on OROP but its implementation is not being done by the Modi government.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
After books by a former media adviser to the Prime Minister and a top bureaucrat, a member of the outgoing Planning Commission has added grist to the mill saying it was Sonia Gandhi who called the shots on all appointments and policies of UPA governments.
Describing the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a divisive leader, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Saturday expressed fear that the country may witness riots if he wins power at the Centre.
Modi government's story of five years with regard to equity allocation for PSUs shows that it may have allowed a large part of its resources to be wasted. This is also a worrying reflection of the government's inability to take hard decisions - whether they pertain to privatisation or forcing weak public-sector banks to wind down their operations, says A K Bhattacharya.
Kumar had sought central university status for it in keeping with public sentiments.
