As the suspense continued over the presence of 'foreign' representatives in the consultative committees of the Planning Commission, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said the issue would be discussed early next week.
80% of beneficiaries in 300 districts to be linked with direct benefits transfer
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
Dr Mitra called the Pandara Road crowd a 'cheerful collective of young dreamers,' united in its 'love and pride for the newly Independent India,' despite 'sharp disparities in background, temperament and attitude.' Dr Shreekant Sambrani recalls his encounters with the legendary economist who passed into the ages.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday night is understood to have cleared the agenda for action initiated by the Planning Commission to spur economic reforms in the current fiscal.
A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar slammed the United Progressive Alliance government for shelving the special status demand at the behest of its 'natural' ally, the Congress hit back charging him with misleading the people on the issue and instigating them against it.
'We do not want people who are air dropped and who fly out once the job is done.' 'Ever since liberalisation started, we keep on hearing that it's going to be jobless growth.' 'This speaks of the failure of the foreign returned policy makers.' 'When questions are raised, answers should be given and not a resignation.'
The planning commission has begun work on the approach paper for the eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) and would soon set up steering committees and working groups for the purpose but is yet to fix the growth target for the next plan period.
The Planning Commission on Monday asked states to undertake labour law reforms to generate employment, but cautioned that even 8 per cent annual economic growth would be insufficient to absorb the jobless populace.\n\n\n\n
The Planning Commission has favoured the early introduction of nationwide value-added tax regime to augment revenues of the states and further restructuring of their costly debt to reduce their interest burden.
After winding up all the 19 consultative groups set up for Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan, the Planning Commission is carrying out consultations with outside experts as well as chief ministers for their inputs on the issue.
The two part-time members of the new body would be from leading universities and research organisations.
An official announcement to this effect would be made next week. The vice-chairman would be of Cabinet rank.
Events to keep an eye out for...
Karnataka government would float a special purpose vehicle soon to take up the much-awaited Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) Bangalore Metro Rail project, chief secretary K K Misra said on Thursday.
The Planning Commission on Monday said employment generation has almost doubled and initial trends indicated that the Tenth Plan target of 50 million jobs could be met if the eight per cent growth rate is achieved.
The government on Friday expressed optimism over increase in the country's oilseeds and grains output driven by near normal rainfall in the current season.
The steering committee on foreign direct investment has recommended enhancement of foreign direct investment limit in domestic airlines sector from 40 per cent to 49 per cent.
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