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| CMs, Power
Ministers’ meet to study SEBs problems NEW DELIH, Dec 1: Centre has convened a meeting of Chief Ministers and..... more Bakht scales down industrial |
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Digvijay
re-elected as leader of CLP
RS in turmoil over |
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Bakht scales down industrial growth to 5 to 6 per cent NEW DELHI, Dec: 1: Industry Minister Sikander Bakht today said the industrial growth in the current fiscal is likely to be in the region of five to six per cent, as against the targetted seven per cent, in view of the ongoing industrial deceleration. "The industrial growth during the year would be between five to six per cent," the Minister told reporters, on the sidelines of the India economic summit being jointly organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Bakht had so far maintained that the country would end the year with a seven per cent growth in industrial output over the previous year. Earlier, speaking at the plenary session, the Minister said despite the dismal growth of only 3.6 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal, the industrial output in the months of September and October was "extremely good." He hoped that a better performance in the agriculture sector would lead to an increase in effective rural income and resultant spur in demand. "It is expected that the performance of agricultural sector would be better than that of the previous year. This should definitely lead to an increase in effective rural incomes and therefor demand," Bakht said. The Minister said though there were no signs of any industrial recovery, the trends in the lead indicators such as investment had been encouraging. Bakht attributed the poor industrial performance to inadequate investment in infrastructure sectors like power and transport and slowdown in effective demand and high cost and low availability of credit. "Certain sectors like metal products (21.3 percent), transport equipment and parts (18.3 per cent), beverages, tobacco and related products (16.1 percent) and paper and paper products (14.9 per cent) have recorded substantial growth during April-September," he said. The Minister said liberalisation of various policies to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country had paid rich dividends with the inflow to approval ratio going up to 35 per cent during the current year from 21 per cent in 1995-96. "The Government is prepared to play a key role in promoting the competitiveness and viability of industry," he said. The Minister said the Government was committed to the process of opening up of the economy and make it market friendly but made it clear that it would not shy away from wiping out unfair trade practices, whether they are by domestic or international companies. "We do intend to open the economy to increased competition but at the same time will not fight shy removing unfair trade practices irrespective of whether they are followed by the international or Indian companies," Bakht added. (PTI) |
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JAIPUR, Dec 1: In tenures that have spanned decades to those that lasted a mere two weeks Chief Ministers of Rajasthan have had varied innings. Late Mohan Lal Sukhadia had the distinction of holding the coveted post for the longest period of 17 years while Congress leader Heera Lal Deopura was in office for the shortest period of just a fortnight. While the Congress stalwart Sukhadia was the Chief Minister for 17 years from November 13, 1954, to July 8, 1971, Mr Deopura held the post for a fortnight till March 10,1985. Mr Heera Lal Shastri was the first elected Chief Minister of the state, who had held the office between April 7, 1949 and January 5, 1951. When circumstances forced Mr Shastri to resign, he handed over charge to the then Indian Civil Service officer C S Venkatachari, who was in office from January 5, 1951 to April 26, 1951. Mr Narain Vyas replaced Mr Venkatachari and managed the chair till March 3, 1952. He held the Chief Ministership for the second time from November 1952 for another two years. Mr Tikaram Paliwal also held the post for a brief period of about eight months. Mr Barkatullah succeded Mr Sukhadia and continued till October 11, 1973. Another strongman Hardeo Joshi was also the Chief Minister for three separate terms, first time from October 1973 to April 29, 1977. Next time he held the post from March 10,1985 and continued till January 20,1988. He became the Chief Minister for the third time on December 4, 1989, and remained the chair till March 1, 1990. Mr Shiv Charan Mathur held the Chief Ministership for about six years in two separate tenures— in 1981 and in 1988. Mr Jaggannath Pahadia held the Chief Ministership for more than one year from June 6, 1980 & July 13,1981. The first non-Congress minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat came to hold the coveted chair as the Bharatiya Janata Party nominee on June 22,1977 and continued till February 16, 1980. Mr Shekhawat returned to hold the seat from March 4, 1990, to December 6,1992 and the third time on December 4 1993 before losing to his rival Congress leader Ashok Gehlot. (UNI) Karunanidhi urges officials to control prices CHENNAI, Dec 1: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today directed officials to ensure that the prices of rice and other essential commodities in the open market did not not escalate. He gave this direction during discussions he had with Food Minister K N Nehru and senior officials on the food situation and measures to contain price rise, an official release said. He also asked the recently-constituted high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary A P Muthusamy to monitor the prices of essential commodities, to meet once a week to take stock of the situation and report to him on a daily basis, the steps being taken to contain the prices. It was decided at the meeting to purchase wheat sold by the centre in the open market and distribute them to the public at subsidised rates, the release said. On distribution of family cards, the officials assured the Chief Minister that the process would be completed by the month end. Transport Minister K Ponmudi, Highways Minister T Krittinan, Secretaries of Finance, Food Departments and officials of Civil Supplies Department were present at the meeting, the release added. (UNI) Construction of Express Highway soon: Jaswant NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Construction of the ambitious 7,000 km Express Highway connecting Nothern and Southern and Eastern and Western regions will begin in this month itself, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh today said. The Government has identified 30 points from where the construction is to commence, Singh, who is also Chairman of the task force on infrastructure, said here addressing the plenary session of the World Economic Forum meet. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would inaugurate the construction activities on the 30th of December, he added. Singh said the next meeting of infrastructure task force, scheduled for seventh or eighth of this month, would work out details of financing the Rs 28,000 crore mega project. We have appointed a sub-committee to device mechanism for funding and that sub-committee’s report will be considered by the task force, He told reporters on the sidelines of the meet. Asked whether construction of the five airports would also begin in this year itself, he said work on airports is a bit more complicated and we are now going to define the parameters. The task force on infrastructure had identified five locations — Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabadm, Bangalore and Ahmedabad — for construction of world class international airports through private sector participation. (PTI) |
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All Govt Deptts consulted before FEMA formulation NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today repudiated opposition charges in Rajya Sabha that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was not consulted while formulating the Foreign Exchange Management (FEMA) Bill. Replying to supplementaries during question hour relating to powers of the ED, he said, Government consulted everyone who was required to be consulted and Enforcement Directorate is a part of Government. He told Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) that under the proposed act, the Reserve Bank of India (EBI) was being given more powers as under FEMA, Foreign Exchange Violation would be treated as a civil offence and not a criminal one. Members had raised objections over the limited powers of the ED related to raids and seizure and punitive action in the FEMA Bill, which seeks to replace the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) of 1973. Replying to the main question, Sinha said the earlier acts of 1947 and 1973 were brought at a time when the foreign exchange position of the country was precarious and each and every outgo was viewed microscopically. Now with current account convertibility and the resultant easing of inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, there was a need to ease the FERA and since amendments would not have been enough, a new bill was introduced, he said. (PTI) |
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RS in turmoil over Karnataka shrine issue NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Rajya Sabha was today thrown into turmoil over the reported Rath Yatra by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to liberate a shrine near Chikmagalur in Karnataka with the opposition and BJP members trading charges against each other. Raising the issue during zero hour, Congress member from Karnataka K Rehman Khan said the Centre should be directed to take suitable steps to prevent the yatra so that no untoward incident took place. He said VHP and Bajrang Dal claimed the shrine, which is dedicated to Sufi Saint Baba Budangiri who is credited to have brought coffee seeds to India three centuries ago, belonged to the Dattatreya Peet and announced their intention to liberate it by the yatra planned for December 3. BJP member Venkaiah Naidu said both Hindus and Muslims believed it was their shrine and that the matter was before a court. Trouble started when CPI veteran Gurudas Dasgupta drew a comparison between the proposed yatra and the Ayodhya incident on December 6, he remarked. Naidu said there was no need to rake up the past as this could lead to communal tension in the country. His remarks were hotly contested by Vyalar Ravi of Congress and many of his colleagues who were also supported by left members. (PTI) |
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Digvijay Singh starts second continuous term BHOPAL, Dec 1: A scion of the erstwhile princely state of Raghogarh, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh displayed remarkable political acumen in leading the Congress to a breathtaking electoral victory in Madhya Pradesh. ‘Diggy Raja’, as he is popularly called, made the pollsters, and his detractors within the Congress, eat their words by exploding almost single-handedly the anti-incumbency myth. While governments in Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram were swept away in one of the most emphatic mandates in Indian electoral history, Mr Singh successfully turned the tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party to emerge as the undisputed leader with a mass base in the state. The victory was all the more sweet, as M P is the home state of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and BJP president Kushabhau Thakre. Little wonder then, Mr Singh (51) was the ‘natural choice’ to head a Congress Government for a second consecutive term. One of only three Chief Ministers to complete a full five-year term, Mr Singh, an engineering graduate, is a soft-spoken and dynamic man. Modesty and a cool temperament underline his personality. Mr Singh’s rise in state politics was meteoric. He took to politics at college and became chairman of the Raghogarh Municipality when he was only 22. Ofcourse, the ‘royal’ connection helped. In 1977, he defied the ‘Janata wave’ to make it to the legislative assembly for the first time and soon rose to a position of eminence in state politics. In 1980, he was inducted into the Ministry by Mr Arjun Singh, his mentor. Mr Singh rose to the top party post in the State in 1984 when when Mr Motilal Vora became Chief Minister in place of Mr Arjun Singh, who was shifted to Punjab as Governor. The acid test for Mr Singh came in 1991 when as Mr Arjun Singh’s nominee for PCC president, he beat back the challenge of Mr Dilip Singh Bhuria, who was put up by the Shukla brothers and Mr Madhavrao Scindia. After the Congress gained an absolute majority in 1993, Mr Singh was elected Chief Minister ahead of Mr Shyama Charan Shukla, the other contender for the top executive post in the State. Mr Singh was then a member of the Lok Sabha. With the prophets of doom predicting a Congress rout in M P,(the Congress won only ten of the 40 lok sabha seats at stake in the general elections held early this year) Mr Singh decided to field fresh faces and his strategy clicked. The promise to strengthen the Panchayati Raj institutions also contributed significantly to the party retaining power, he maintains. (UNI) |
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