Why Saurabha Chandra is ad-hoc commerce secretary ?

Saurabh Chandra has been given the additional charge of commerce department until further orders. He was recently elevated as secretary DIPP, a powerful policy wing of the government relating to Industry. It was rather surprising why this adhoc arrangement as decision to send Rahul Khullar to TRAI as chairman had been taken long ago. May be, the government wants more time to pick the full-fledged commerce secretary. In the changed environment, the commerce secretary plays a key role  in trade and economy. It was the PMO's Man-Friday Rahul Khullar who held this post for long and did not even go to Brussels as Economic Minister.

 Will Saurabh Chandra be given commerce and divest the DIPP? Dr Sutanu Behuria, 1976 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS with prior experiences in commerce ministry may spring a surprise. 

Tractors are commercial vehicles. Can you believe this !

Have you heard of Jyoti Mirdha ?  

If you haven't heard of Jyoti Mirdha, its your loss. She is an MP from Nagaur in Rajasthan, married, educated, net-sauvy and no nonsense person. Works quietly and keep away from the glare of the media. 

But for her, millions of tractor owners across the country would have shelled out crores of rupees to blood-sucking insurance companies. The UPA government had thrown out tractors from the agricultural category in the finance bill. But this fire-brand Congress young Turk MP from Rajasthan got the smile back on farmers’ faces.

The union budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on March 16 had taken out tractors from agricultural category and put these vehicles in the commercial category. This increased the annual insurance premium on farmers from 300 % to 800 % - the figure varying from state to state. Jyoti Mirdha took up cudgels with the union finance ministry and urged the ministry to reverse this anti-farmer policy decision. For example, farmers in Rajasthan now had to shell out Rs 10902 a year as insurance from the earlier figure of Rs 1350. In Punjab, the farmers were now paying Rs 22000 for tractor insurance as compared to Rs 8000 they had been paying.

It was Minister of State for Finance Namonarayan Meena who supported Jyoti Mirsha and took up the issue further with Pranab Mukherjee and IRDA chairman. Accordingly, the amendment was issued. The quiet roll back was done even before the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee could give his speech in the Lok Sabha on Finance Bill.

Mirdha’s efforts have paid off as IRDA Chairman J Narayan passed an executive order reversing the earlier. The order comes into effect from retrospective effect.

PM hugs Mukul Roy with both hands ! How ?

Mamata Man is now in all powerful Cabinet Committees too

Gone are the days when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh used to keep Mukul Roy at arms length. It was on insistence that Mukul Roy was not made a full Cabinet rank minister of Railways and Dinesh Trivedi sneaked in. Destiny brought Mukul back in the Rail Bhawan. But the government kept him waiting for more than a month by not inducting him in any of the committees of the Cabinet.

But no more. The Mamata Banerjee protégée and sole representative of Trinamool Congress in the Union Cabinet is not member of almost all Cabinet Committees now.

In a new notification, the government had a change of heart. The Trinamool was completely unrepresented in the Cabinet committees of the Government and the party leaders had no clue of decision making process on crucial issues as Mukul Roy remained in hibernation. It was a clear signal that something is amiss between him and the PMO.

Today, Mukul Roy was made a member of most-powerful Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. He will rub shoulders with powerful men in the Cabinet committee like Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram, A K Antony and a couple of others. Another surprise induction into the CCPA is civil aviation minister Ajit Singh whose RLD is considered a light weight compared to the TMC.

Mukul Roy is a member of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs and Cabinet committee on infrastructure. Mukul Roy has also been made a member of the Cabinet Committee on Prices.

Sources say that induction of mukul roy in almost all the committees of the Cabinet is an indication that government is placating Mamata banerjee. Lately, government is accepting almost all the demands of the TMC, the last being the West Bengal package.

However, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) remains an exclusive domain of the Congress Party ministers and no ally has been inducted including NCP and DMK.

Govt. Buckles, Lok Pal Bill to be amended

Govt bows to Mamata on Lok Pal, agrees to almost all demands of the Opposition too

Ahead of the Presidential poll in July, the government buckled under the pressure of the allies and the Opposition parties alike on the Lok Pal and Lokayukta Bill.

With the smooth passage of the Finance Bill in Parliament this week, the government has now decided to buy peace with all and remove irritants. More than 200 amendments were introduced in the Lok Pal Bill in the rajya Sabha during the winter session. The bill was deferred as UPA allies, the Left & the BJP opposed its provisions. The house had to be adjourned sine die abruptly.
Dr Hamid Ansari earned Opposition's ire too. But this was set off with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee first losing cool in the Lok Sabha today and then apologising profousely.

Now the government has decided to take five steps;

1. The provisions regarding Lokayukta will be taken away and powers will be given to the state governments to enact their own laws from the Lok Pal Bill;

2. The appointment of Lok Pals will be made more simpler;

3. The CBI will remain under the government. But it will be made more accountable and answerable;

4. Group C and D officers will be outside the Lok Pal;

5. The procedures and action against Prime Minister with regard to complaints against him or her have to be made tougher and cannot be general in nature and confidentiality has to be maintained unless prima facie proved otherwise

The government, it is learnt, has started discussions with the leaders of the various parties and make a move in the Rajya Sabha where it is lying dorment.

Ends

Mamata falls in line, Opposition divided on MCI

By Harish Gupta

The rajya sabha today witnessed a different scene when the Opposition stood completely divided and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress MPs supported the government's bill on the Medical council of India.

The government floor managers succeeded in ensuring that the MCI bill which faced hurdles from the TMC in the LOK Sabha gets through without any difficulty in the rajyasabha.Though the government is in a hopeless minority in the Rajya Sabha with BJP, Left, Samajwadi, BSP and other opposition parties having the majority in a house of 245.

But the samajwadi party and BSP walked out of the house and TMC decided to back the bill after a fervent appeal by health minister ghulam nabi azad who replied to the debate. This was one of the  rare occasion in the rajya sabha where the government showed that it can still pass thr roaster even when it doesn't have the majority.

An opposition leader commented, " We always said and believed that SP and BSP are the B team of the Congress" the bill passed by a voice vote with opposition not even demanding voting, made it clear that the government will have a smooth sailing.The parliament functioned peacefully through the day today which was also one of the rare occasion though in the morning there were scenes on the P Chidambaram's role in the telecom deal.

e-mail   : harishgupta45@gmail.com
website : www.harishgupta.com