Known as the 'poor man's capitalist' for his insistence that market economies must work to include their poorest citizens socially, legally and economically, de Soto is a legend in academia for his work on informal economies and how to bring impoverished populations into the mainstream.
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hoists the national flag from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day on Sunday, it will be seven in a row for him, with only Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi ahead of the economist-turned-politician.
"It is a trip that I'm very much looking forward to, and I know that the prime minister and his gracious wife will extend great hospitality to us. We are also just excited because of the tremendous cultural, as well as political and social and economic examples that India is providing the world and has in the past," he said.
Modi, who was accompanied by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari, said Dikhsit made a noteworthy contribution to the development of the national capital.
Dr Singh asked the student delegation to lift the blockade of National Highway No: 39 to facilitate the movement of essential commodities to Manipur, where the prices have soared beyond the reach of citizens. For example, rice is priced at Rs 100 per kg, while cooking gas cylinders are being sold between Rs 1500 and Rs 2000. Medicines too are in short supply.
A change in recommendation in favour of Birla did certainly happen but the question is whether it was a bona fide decision. Jyoti Mukul reports
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday disagreed with those in the Congress who were dismissive of the challenge posed by Narendra Modi but asserted that the party would approach the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with self-confidence, irrespective of the results of the just concluded elections in five states.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the "weakest" leader ever to hold the post.
United States President Barack Obama is expected to undertake his first state visit to India in August or October, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.Returning from his two-nation tour of the United States and Brazil during which he met Obama, Dr Singh said these two months were being considered for the finalisation of dates for the significant visit. However, the exact dates have not been finalised yet, he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday revealed that he had told United States President Barack Obama that India does not favour Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions but sanctions were not an answer as poor people get more affected by them."I said to the President that we do not favour Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," Dr Singh told a press conference in Washington, when asked about the discussions on Iran that he had with Obama two days ago.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday constituted a Cabinet committee to oversee reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Manmohan Singh, reveals the former President, was keen that either P Chidambaram or Montek Singh Ahluwalia be the finance minister.
"To paraphrase Rabindra Tagore, we must not allow narrow domestic walls to confine us to the deadly sand of dead habits. Instead, we should dip into the clear stream of reason and walk forward into ever-widening thought and action so that we can build not just a new India by 2020 but a new South Asia," he said.
The US president acknowledged that it was former prime minister Manmohan Singh who had scripted the nuclear deal, Congress leader Anand Sharma, was part of the delegation that met the former, tells Rashmi Sehgal.
It is an open secret that Manmohan Singh is not a popular figure in the Congress, but Sonia's presence, support and strategy are proving a blessing for the good doctor. When P V Narasimha Rao ran into rough times, Sonia remained indifferent and the Congress had left him to the wolves, says Rasheed Kidwai, author of books on Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party.
How many marks will Prime Minister Manmohan Singh give to the performance of the United Progressive Alliance's second term? This is the question being asked in political circles ahead of Dr Singh's first press conference in Delhi on Monday since taking over as PM for the second time. When the UPA-I had completed one year in May 2005, Dr Singh gave six out of ten marks to its performance, but said he was not satisfied with it.
Describing the Women's Reservation Bill as a 'giant step' towards the empowerment of women, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha that the measure was not anti-minority and anti-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe. Dr Singh also expressed 'profound apology' to Chairman Hamid Ansari for the disrespect shown to the Chair by members in the House over the past two days. "On behalf of the government, I owe you a profound apology," Dr Singh said to Ansari.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday rejected the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into both the IPL controversy and the phone-tapping issue, on the ground that it was not needed. "JPC for what? This is not a fit case for JPC," Dr Singh said when asked about the Opposition's demand for a JPC into the phone-tapping allegation. He said Home Minister P Chidambaram had explained the phone-tapping allegations in Parliament.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is leaving for a nine-day long tour on November 21.Dr Singh will take a break in Geneva before reaching Washington on the evening of November 22. He, along with his wife Gursharan Kaur, will stay at the luxurious and heritage Hotel Willard Inter Continental. The hotel is located at 1401, Pennsylvania Avenue, just two blocks away from the White House.
Modi has been wrong in thinking that he can influence people and win friends in Pakistan through his high-octane brand of diplomacy. That is why his Pakistan policy that started off on the high note of saree-and-shawl diplomacy now threatens to end with a whimper with cloak-and-dagger games, says Rajeev Sharma.
Dr Singh called up ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan to congratulate him and his team of scientists and extended best wishes for its successful future.
Rahul Gandhi said he had helped the party conceptualise its 'Nyay' scheme to help remonetise the economy.
Hitting the campaign trail in Assam for the first time this election, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party as a "party that divides the people and thinks through only one person."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had not handed over any dossier to him on Balochistan during their meeting in Egypt earlier this month. Intervening in a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the joint statement issued with Pakistan, Dr Singh said, "I categorically say no such dossier was given to me".Dr Singh met Gilani in Sharm-el Sheikh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.Sources indicate that while Dr Singh will seek a firmer commitment on tackling terror from his Pakistani counterpart, Gilani might rake up the contentious issue of Kashmir during the talks. The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan had come to a standstill after the terror attack on Mumbai in November
Addressing the plenary session, Dr Singh also warned that there could be a period of prolonged stagflation if the aftermath of the global financial crisis was not carefully managed.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit India in March next year at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh."I am very grateful to you for accepting my invitation in March next year. I am confident that your visit will give a new fillip to our ties," Dr Singh said a meeting with Putin in Moscow on Monday.
'People, who are objecting to the movie now, should have objected in 2014 when the book came out. But nobody did.'
Rahul Gandhi stressed the importance of an electoral understanding in UP if the BJP is to be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will turn 77 on September 26, will celebrate yet another birthday mid-air, on board the Air India One, like he did in 2004.Dr Singh will celebrate his birthday in his special aircraft or at Geneva, the flight's stop- over, while on his way back from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, United States. Once the G-20 summit gets over, Dr Singh will have a quiet family get-together on the eve of his birthday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia next week, according to a source in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.However, the Prime Minister's Office refused to confirm or deny the news.Dr Singh is scheduled to visit Yaketenaburg, an industrial town in Russia, on June 15-16 to attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China summit.
'Vajpayee used to consult the Opposition; Indira Gandhi used to consult the Opposition. Which khet ki mooli is Modi?'
'I want to ask Modiji is the support price announced by him good enough to make a farmer's sons to start farming in their villages?' 'Can he swear by Bharat Mata and say that is true?'
'Temperamentally, they are quite alike.' 'Ahmed Patel avoided the limelight and was not a power seeker.' 'The Gandhis too are not power wielders, but trustees of power.'
'One wishes that today's 'take no prisoners' brand of politics would give way to an understanding of the national interest that is shared by both government and Opposition.'
Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair met Dr Singh in Delhi on Friday afternoon and briefed him on the lunar mission launched on October 22.
Terrorism is the biggest threat to South Asia's stability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit on Saturday."Terrorists and extremists don't know borders. We must act with determination to fight terrorism. We cannot lose the battle against ideologies of hatred," said Dr Singh.Terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion during the three-day summit, which started today in Colombo.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Purnea in Bihar on Thursday for a visit to the flood-hit districts. Dr Singh, Gandhi and Patil will undertake an aerial survey of the flood-affected districts in an Indian Air Force helicopter.Dr Singh is scheduled to review the relief and rescue measures at a high-level meeting with senior officials of the state government, before returning to Delhi.
A source close to the PM insisted that the decision on whether the PM needs by-pass surgery or angioplasty will be taken only after the R-Day parade.
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