The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A parliamentary committee has recommended delinking creation of Lokayuktas from the Lokpal Bill, a provision that was strongly opposed by cpolitical parties including those supporting the United Progressive Alliance.
Opposition parties are wary that any such attempt that is likely to fail or is even potentially risky will end up helping the Congress eventually, says Sheela Bhatt.
It said AMU is not and cannot be a university of any particular religion or religious denomination as any university which has been declared an institution of national importance cannot be a minority institution.
In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said, in the recent past he has been finding himself 'lacking in passion', while his own performance has been 'listless and perfunctory'.
Continuing the suspense over its stand on an Opposition-sponsored resolution in Parliament against Foreign Direct Investment in retail, United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Wednesday said its decision would be taken keeping in mind the interest of small and medium traders.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam has called for 12-hout Assam bandh on May 26 to protest the visit of the united Progressive Alliance chairman and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Guwahati on that day.
Major parties have lined up a long list of star campaigners to woo voters in Assam where assembly polls are scheduled for April 4 and 11. The ruling Congress, bidding for return to power for the third consecutive term, has a long list of prominent persons, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to campaign for the party.
UPA failed to undertake economic, social and administrative reforms to strengthen India's long-term development potential.
"The fact that not many FTAs were sealed shows the cautious approach of the policy makers," said Ram Upendra Das, fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries. "But India has recognised that these duty-free agreements are the order of the day as other countries are engaging in similar deals. Indian exporters will be left out if the nation does not engage in these types of agreements with its trading partners," he added.
Accusing the opposition of spreading misinformation regarding policy initiatives taken by the United Progressive Alliance government, a combative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said reform measures, including FDI in retail, will benefit the common man and create more jobs.
Thank God for the United Progressive Alliance. Without its comic blundering, hiss-worthy arrogance and world-class smugness, we would really be gloomy. A parade of errors and puzzling decisions keeps us angered and entertained -- but most importantly, distracted. Or we would notice our economy's problems are less to do with this or any conceivable government, and more a set of principles and circumstances that aren't being questioned and addressed.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw some amendments it had proposed to the Right to Information Act after protests from civil society, which was also backed by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi. A meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided to withdraw the amendments which had sought to restrict disclosure of file notings only to social and development issues under the transparency law.
He said the economy has 'clawed back' to 4.4 per cent in Q1, 4.8 per cent in Q2.
The vote-on-account is essentially a measure to seek Parliament's approval for government expenditure until the full Budget is presented.
The most worrying aspect of defence budgeting is that the military's long-term equipment planning is based on fundamentally flawed fiscal assumptions.
He said he had achieved a fair measure of success in stablising India's economy and aimed to make it the third-biggest after the US and China.
Political needs of the Congress largely drove the reshuffle of ministers
It could become a giant leap towards lasting reform if the experiment in direct benefit transfers for cooking gas subsidies pans out.
To put it starkly, the Congress, and with it, the United Progressive Alliance, is sleepwalking into a minefield by blundering on land and Aadhaar, says Praful Bidwai
Joining the Himachal assembly poll campaign, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday played to the hilt the Congress' 'aam admi' plank by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of blocking legislations benefiting the people at large and stressed that the United Progressive Alliance had taken strict action against corruption.
Amid confusion over the continuation of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren as an MLA, Governor Ramesh Bais on Friday went to Delhi, a day after ruling United Progressive Alliance MLAs urged him to clear the air over the EC's recommendation on the matter.
The Union Cabinet is likely to be reshuffled on Sunday. Speculation has been rife about a possible reshuffle in the wake of the exit of Trinamool Congress ministers and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam representatives A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in the last two years.
N R Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Information Technology giant Infosys, has lamented that economic activities in India were 'stalled' and decisions were not taken by the Manmohan Singh government in time in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance-era.
After a bitter separation with the Congress, the Trinamool Congress is mulling moving an adjournment motion under rule 184 that entails voting in the Winter Session of Parliament against the "anti-people" policies of the United Progressive Alliance government.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
The lure of the17 Lok Sabha seats in the new Telangana state is driving Sonia Gandhi and her party to make every effort be made to push it through Parliament at the earliest.
Downplaying differences between the Congress and its United Progressive Alliance partner Trinamool Congress, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday squarely blamed the Opposition for the government's inability to get through the Lokpal Bill and Foreign Direct Investment.
Three MPs, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, came on wheelchairs.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived in Kasmir on Tuesday morning. Their visit came within hours of a deadly militant attack at an army convoy that left eight soldiers dead and 11 others wounded in Srinagar.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan talks to rediff.com's Anita Katyal about the current political situation, Narendra Modi's projection by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the future plans of the Congress and the UPA
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
Two Lok Sabha Members of Parliament of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha on Saturday formally withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance government, slamming it for anti-people decisions like FDI in multi brand retail, inflation and "creating a record in corruption". A delegation of JVM MPs and seniors leaders, led by party chief Babulal Marandi, met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a letter withdrawing support from the government.
Cautioning the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government against making any 'hasty' announcements in the name of reforms, key ally Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Friday said decisions should be based on "consultations". "My opinion is that hasty decisions and announcements in the name of economic reforms should be avoided. They should be taken after deep consultations and keeping in mind the future prospects of the country," DMK president M Karunanidhi said.
Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took charge as the sixth Minister of Railways in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's second term.
The Bhartiya Janata Party will pressure the United Progressive Alliance government in the upcoming Parliament session to act on a 23-point charter formulated by its 'task force' for following constitutional, legal, political and geo-political measures to unearth and bring back the Indian monies illegally stashed abroad.
India on Thursday unleashed a second wave of reforms deciding to open the pension sector to foreign investment and raising the foreign direct investment cap in insurance to 49 per cent, undeterred by opposition to its decisions on FDI in retail and threats to block these legislations.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described as 'immoral and unethical' the decision by the 'minority' government at the Centre to hike FDI in insurance and pension sectors, and called on all United Progressive Alliance partners to quit the government in protest.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday alleged that instead of coming clear on whether expenses for United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's travel and treatment were paid from public exchequer and what was the amount spent, Congress is diverting attention by saying the opposition is raising issues about her health.
He wanted changes in certain criteria for the project.
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