Published: Monday, Oct 25, 2010, 3:31 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_jaipal-reddy-game-for-house-panel-probe_1457509
The Union government is contemplating a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into all aspects of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), a move the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding for some time now.
While a section in the government is still apprehensive, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, who headed the group of ministers (GoM) on the Games, is confident that he can “convince” the party high command to accept the JPC probe.
Reddy has argued that the Union government has nothing to hide. No minister from the central government had any role in the scandals whatsoever and a strict monitoring mechanism had been put in place.
The minister finds no sense in being seen as protecting or shielding the corrupt and playing into the hands of the opposition. The government is facing flak due to irregularities committed by certain functionaries of the organising committee and various wings of the Delhi government.
Reddy has taken up the matter with his cabinet colleagues and prime minister Manmohan Singh. The views of the prime minister, who has left for a three-nation tour, are not immediately known, but a number of cabinet ministers and senior party functionaries feel constituting a JPC would help in getting to the bottom of the issue. A serious discussion is expected when the Congress core committee meets before the parliament session which begins on November 9.
In an informal chat with the DNA, Reddy said he had been behind the constitution of JPCs on the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parikh scams. The flaws in the system were detected after the parliamentary probes, and strict rules, procedures and even laws were put in place. It was because of these JPCs that the country never suffered during the economic meltdown or any other economic turmoil, he added.
Those functionaries and ministers, who are connected with parliamentary work and aware that the government does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, are also of the view that once the JPC is constituted, the session would pass off peacefully.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Absent ministers force PM to cancel cabinet meet
Published: Thursday, Jul 1, 2010, 1:42 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_absent-ministers-force-pm-to-cancel-cabinet-meet_1403666
Prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh cancelled a crucial cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday after more than a dozen ministers expressed inability to make it.
The meeting was to discuss a caste-based census, among other issues. Also, PM was to apprise the cabinet of the outcome of the Indo-Canada and G-20 talks.
Agriculture and food minister Sharad Pawar is in Singapore, non-conventional energy minister Farooq Abdullah is also abroad, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni is holidaying with family, railway minister Mamata Banerjee continues to be in West Bengal, heavy industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is also away and so is chemical and fertilisers minister MK Alagiri.
Telecom minister A Raja, who went to Geneva and other world capitals last month and was later busy with the world Tamil conference, wanted rest but rushed to New Delhi for the meeting, only to discover that it had been cancelled.
A senior government functionary jokingly said, “How can the cabinet meet on a day when the super cabinet is holding its first formal meeting with a specific agenda!”
Obviously, he was referring to the national advisory council (NAC) meeting scheduled for Thursday under the chairmanship of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. NAC will take up certain key aspects of the food security bill.
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_absent-ministers-force-pm-to-cancel-cabinet-meet_1403666
Prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh cancelled a crucial cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday after more than a dozen ministers expressed inability to make it.
The meeting was to discuss a caste-based census, among other issues. Also, PM was to apprise the cabinet of the outcome of the Indo-Canada and G-20 talks.
Agriculture and food minister Sharad Pawar is in Singapore, non-conventional energy minister Farooq Abdullah is also abroad, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni is holidaying with family, railway minister Mamata Banerjee continues to be in West Bengal, heavy industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is also away and so is chemical and fertilisers minister MK Alagiri.
Telecom minister A Raja, who went to Geneva and other world capitals last month and was later busy with the world Tamil conference, wanted rest but rushed to New Delhi for the meeting, only to discover that it had been cancelled.
A senior government functionary jokingly said, “How can the cabinet meet on a day when the super cabinet is holding its first formal meeting with a specific agenda!”
Obviously, he was referring to the national advisory council (NAC) meeting scheduled for Thursday under the chairmanship of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. NAC will take up certain key aspects of the food security bill.
Divided oppostion gives united call for July 5 bandh
Published: Friday, Jul 2, 2010, 19:37 IST | Updated: Friday, Jul 2, 2010, 23:22 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_divided-oppostion-gives-united-call-for-july-5-bandh_1404404
NDA does not see eye-to-eye with the Left, AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa, Telugu Desam’s Chandrababu Naidu and Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD’s) Naveen Patnaik do not want any deal with BJP, Lalu Prasad is unwilling to join hands with JD(U) in Bihar and BSP’s Mayawati does not want to be seen with Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh (UP). But the Manmohan Singh government’s “market-driven economic policies” have united them all.
More than a dozen leading parties, including the ruling BJD in Orissa and the Left in West Bengal and Kerala, apart from NDA, have called an all-India strike on the same day, July 5, to protest the fuel price hike.
Lalu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati have called separate bandhs in Bihar and UP on July 10 and 15.
There was no joint meeting of the opposition and there will be no convener of this protest. Parties will mount pressure in their areas of influence and may finally move a cut motion in parliament during the monsoon session beginning July 26.
The message is clear, the days of honeymoon are over for the Manmohan Singh government.
The initiative for a nation-wide bandh was taken by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav. He was the first to phone CPM general secretary Prakash Karat to discuss the issue.
Karat gave consent, but BJP developed cold feet. It wanted a different bandh date, but fell in line after others threatened to walk out. Sharad Yadav told DNA no meeting was needed to forge unity.
“People are forcing leaders to rise in protest. It’s an upsurge against market forces,” he said.
Sensing danger, the government may give the farming community and the poor in metros some relief in terms of diesel.
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_divided-oppostion-gives-united-call-for-july-5-bandh_1404404
NDA does not see eye-to-eye with the Left, AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa, Telugu Desam’s Chandrababu Naidu and Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD’s) Naveen Patnaik do not want any deal with BJP, Lalu Prasad is unwilling to join hands with JD(U) in Bihar and BSP’s Mayawati does not want to be seen with Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh (UP). But the Manmohan Singh government’s “market-driven economic policies” have united them all.
More than a dozen leading parties, including the ruling BJD in Orissa and the Left in West Bengal and Kerala, apart from NDA, have called an all-India strike on the same day, July 5, to protest the fuel price hike.
Lalu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati have called separate bandhs in Bihar and UP on July 10 and 15.
There was no joint meeting of the opposition and there will be no convener of this protest. Parties will mount pressure in their areas of influence and may finally move a cut motion in parliament during the monsoon session beginning July 26.
The message is clear, the days of honeymoon are over for the Manmohan Singh government.
The initiative for a nation-wide bandh was taken by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav. He was the first to phone CPM general secretary Prakash Karat to discuss the issue.
Karat gave consent, but BJP developed cold feet. It wanted a different bandh date, but fell in line after others threatened to walk out. Sharad Yadav told DNA no meeting was needed to forge unity.
“People are forcing leaders to rise in protest. It’s an upsurge against market forces,” he said.
Sensing danger, the government may give the farming community and the poor in metros some relief in terms of diesel.
SH Kapadia is yet to take over, but change is here
Published: Monday, Jul 5, 2010, 1:39 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sh-kapadia-is-yet-to-take-over-but-change-is-here_1405355
When the Supreme Court (SC) reopens on Tuesday, the stamp of new chief justice of India (CJI) Sarosh Homi Kapadia will be there for all to see. Not only the SC premises has been revamped, but the functioning of the top court is also set to undergo a major change.
Kapadia is perhaps the first CJI in recent history who refused to travel abroad during SC’s May-June vacation and worked in 46 degrees Celsius. Of course, he visited his native Mumbai for a couple of days.
Sources in the top echelon of judiciary said Kapadia hardly met anybody at home in the two months. He would be in office early and the last one to leave. Except for SC registrars and fellow judges, he did not encourage personal meetings. He was formulating a workable strategy to significantly bring down the number of pending cases which is a staggering 55,797 in SC alone.
Kapadia wants to bring judicial reform through action rather than legislation and that too within the next 28 months when he will be CJI.
Law minister Veerappa Moily told him that the group of ministers had cleared the judicial accountability bill and it would now go to the Union cabinet for clearance. However, Kapadia held the view that no amount of legislations would deliver justice if there is no strong will in the system.
CJI is learnt to have taken drastic steps in amending certain rules and regulations at the registry so that case filing becomes easy. He has formed a high-powered committee to scrutinise PILs.
“We have been directed to scrutinise every new case and make it error-free. Objections, if any, in petitions will be rectified at this level itself,” a registry source said.
Kapadia spent a lot of time with registrars to improve systems and procedures. During the two-month SC vacation, he constituted more than a dozen committees for smooth functioning of the court.
“CJI has really worked hard to revamp the SC premises. His style of functioning is different,” a lawyer said.
Kapadia, who joined the Bombay bar at the age of 27 in 1974, is known as a workaholic, tough and a no-nonsense man. His first big challenge will be hearing the Centre’s curative petition on the Bhopal gas tragedy where he will have to review the judgments of predecessors RS Pathak in 1989 and AH Ahmadi, who watered down the charges against Union Carbide Corporation in 1996.
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sh-kapadia-is-yet-to-take-over-but-change-is-here_1405355
When the Supreme Court (SC) reopens on Tuesday, the stamp of new chief justice of India (CJI) Sarosh Homi Kapadia will be there for all to see. Not only the SC premises has been revamped, but the functioning of the top court is also set to undergo a major change.
Kapadia is perhaps the first CJI in recent history who refused to travel abroad during SC’s May-June vacation and worked in 46 degrees Celsius. Of course, he visited his native Mumbai for a couple of days.
Sources in the top echelon of judiciary said Kapadia hardly met anybody at home in the two months. He would be in office early and the last one to leave. Except for SC registrars and fellow judges, he did not encourage personal meetings. He was formulating a workable strategy to significantly bring down the number of pending cases which is a staggering 55,797 in SC alone.
Kapadia wants to bring judicial reform through action rather than legislation and that too within the next 28 months when he will be CJI.
Law minister Veerappa Moily told him that the group of ministers had cleared the judicial accountability bill and it would now go to the Union cabinet for clearance. However, Kapadia held the view that no amount of legislations would deliver justice if there is no strong will in the system.
CJI is learnt to have taken drastic steps in amending certain rules and regulations at the registry so that case filing becomes easy. He has formed a high-powered committee to scrutinise PILs.
“We have been directed to scrutinise every new case and make it error-free. Objections, if any, in petitions will be rectified at this level itself,” a registry source said.
Kapadia spent a lot of time with registrars to improve systems and procedures. During the two-month SC vacation, he constituted more than a dozen committees for smooth functioning of the court.
“CJI has really worked hard to revamp the SC premises. His style of functioning is different,” a lawyer said.
Kapadia, who joined the Bombay bar at the age of 27 in 1974, is known as a workaholic, tough and a no-nonsense man. His first big challenge will be hearing the Centre’s curative petition on the Bhopal gas tragedy where he will have to review the judgments of predecessors RS Pathak in 1989 and AH Ahmadi, who watered down the charges against Union Carbide Corporation in 1996.
After Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel seeks profile change
Published: Wednesday, Jul 7, 2010, 1:19 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_after-sharad-pawar-praful-patel-seeks-profile-change_1406378
After Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, it is the turn of minister for civil aviation Praful Patel to request change.
Before flying off to Johannesburg, South Africa, Patel is learnt to have conveyed to the prime minister (PM) that he be shifted to some other ministry. Though no reasons are known for Patel’s desire to be relieved of the civil aviation portfolio, he is said to have conveyed to Manmohan Singh that it has been over six years that he has been in the ministry and he feels it is time to move on.
“Please do not ask me what transpired between me and the PM. Let me come back on July 10,” Patel told DNA.
Patel is the second Union minister — that too belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — to express desire for a change in profile. Patel had met the PM thrice, the last time being the inauguration of the new airport in New Delhi.
It is learnt that Pawar had raised the matter of Patel’s desire to be shifted to another ministry when he (Pawar) called on the PM at his residence on Monday morning. Apparently, when Pawar requested the PM to lighten his workload, he politely demanded that Patel be upgraded to full cabinet minister considering his seniority. “If Pawar sheds the crucial department of food and consumer affairs, he wants a cabinet rank post in return for his party. There is no free lunch,” said a senior Congress leader.
Pawar’s decision to go public soon after meeting the PM took the Congress by surprise. The party may have been eager to tame Pawar by blaming him for high food prices, but it is also fully aware that starting the process of reshuffling the cabinet before Parliament’s monsoon session will cause more pain.
If the nine-member NCP in the Lok Sabha gets two cabinet posts in the new scheme of things, why shall the 20-member DMK bandwagon compromise with three cabinet berths (A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Alagiri)? A couple of senior Congress leaders may have been indicating an impending reshuffle and gunning for the portfolios of telecom minister A Raja and environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh (the opposition has been baying for Raja’s blood over the 2G spectrum scam).
Also, minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah probably desires to be shifted to tourism or some other ministry.
But the Congress high command and the PM are disinclined to undertake such an exercise as there are no “compelling reasons” to reshuffle the council of ministers. The Congress has 27 Cabinet posts out of 33, leaving only six for its allies; it has most of the plum portfolios as well.
However, the Congress is fully aware that the Monsoon session will be stormy, with the NDA and the Left joining hands on fuel price and the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. So why buckle under them and sacrifice Raja, for which the DMK supremo is not ready?
The final call will be taken at the Congress core committee meeting on Friday at the PM’s residence.
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_after-sharad-pawar-praful-patel-seeks-profile-change_1406378
After Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, it is the turn of minister for civil aviation Praful Patel to request change.
Before flying off to Johannesburg, South Africa, Patel is learnt to have conveyed to the prime minister (PM) that he be shifted to some other ministry. Though no reasons are known for Patel’s desire to be relieved of the civil aviation portfolio, he is said to have conveyed to Manmohan Singh that it has been over six years that he has been in the ministry and he feels it is time to move on.
“Please do not ask me what transpired between me and the PM. Let me come back on July 10,” Patel told DNA.
Patel is the second Union minister — that too belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — to express desire for a change in profile. Patel had met the PM thrice, the last time being the inauguration of the new airport in New Delhi.
It is learnt that Pawar had raised the matter of Patel’s desire to be shifted to another ministry when he (Pawar) called on the PM at his residence on Monday morning. Apparently, when Pawar requested the PM to lighten his workload, he politely demanded that Patel be upgraded to full cabinet minister considering his seniority. “If Pawar sheds the crucial department of food and consumer affairs, he wants a cabinet rank post in return for his party. There is no free lunch,” said a senior Congress leader.
Pawar’s decision to go public soon after meeting the PM took the Congress by surprise. The party may have been eager to tame Pawar by blaming him for high food prices, but it is also fully aware that starting the process of reshuffling the cabinet before Parliament’s monsoon session will cause more pain.
If the nine-member NCP in the Lok Sabha gets two cabinet posts in the new scheme of things, why shall the 20-member DMK bandwagon compromise with three cabinet berths (A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Alagiri)? A couple of senior Congress leaders may have been indicating an impending reshuffle and gunning for the portfolios of telecom minister A Raja and environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh (the opposition has been baying for Raja’s blood over the 2G spectrum scam).
Also, minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah probably desires to be shifted to tourism or some other ministry.
But the Congress high command and the PM are disinclined to undertake such an exercise as there are no “compelling reasons” to reshuffle the council of ministers. The Congress has 27 Cabinet posts out of 33, leaving only six for its allies; it has most of the plum portfolios as well.
However, the Congress is fully aware that the Monsoon session will be stormy, with the NDA and the Left joining hands on fuel price and the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. So why buckle under them and sacrifice Raja, for which the DMK supremo is not ready?
The final call will be taken at the Congress core committee meeting on Friday at the PM’s residence.
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