Armitage to visit India on a two-day visit

          New Delhi: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will be arriving here tonight on a two-day visit for holding talks with the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government on issues relating to strategic partnerships and other areas of interest to both the nations viz Iraq and Afghanistan. Armitage's visit to India will be the first by a senior member of the Bush Administration since the UPA government assumed power. Armitage will hold meetings with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and National Security Adviser J N Dixit, and in all probability, spell out Washington's intentions vis-a-vis India's participation in Iraq. Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has firmly ruled out the possibility of sending Indian troops to Iraq, the Bush Administration believes that with a transitional government functioning in Iraq under a UN mandate, New Delhi should "reassess" its approach.

Congress and SP smoking the peace pipe, for the moment (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

          New Delhi: Newspaper reports of a major rift brewing between the Congress party and the Samajwadi Party was categorically refuted by parliamentarians of both parties. Both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) said there was no "war like situation" between them as far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned. Akhilesh Yadav, SP leader and the son of UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, told ANI in an exclusive interaction, that nothing drastic is going to happen insofar as his party's relationship with the Congress is concerned. Stating that a section of the media had `played up' the reports in today's newspapers, he said, "some press persons want to make glossy headlines" that's why they write such misleading stories. "As of now there is not even an idea floating in my party of withdrawing support from the UPA government," Yadav added. "We have merely asked for a special package for UP, similar to what have been given to other states like Bihar," he said.

           When asked to comment on Mulayam's statement that he will launch an agitation if a package was not given for Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh said, "that's for sure...........we have made an humble request to the UPA government........and if our demand is not met we will definitely express our opposition to such partiality." Several Congress MPs considered close to the party high command. also expressed similar views. V. Narainasamy, a third time Rajya Sabha MP and a close confidant of 10 Janpath, said, "no decision has been taken yet regarding UP. Let's see how the situation develops."

          Wasim Ahmed, another Congress MP of the Rajya Sabha, said, "there is nothing between Congress and SP which could make paper's headlines. Nothing could be expected in near future." Mulayam Singh has been pressing for a special package for his state after Union Finance Minister P. Chidabaram proposed giving such packages to backward states. As a first installment, Bihar was given a package of Rs 3225 crore.

SC defers plea challenging changes in RS election procedure (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Supreme Court today referred the petition, which opposed the rights of MPs' to contest from states which they don't represent, to a larger bench. The petition was filed by noted journalist Kuldip Nayar who challenged the changes made in Rajya Sabha Election Procedure. The Supreme Court on June 9 had lifted its stay on the election to the 65 seats of Rajya Sabha, but had said that the election of the members to the House of elders would be subject to the court's final decision on the petition.

Opposition walks out over NCERT textbook issues (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: BJP members and some other NDA allies walked out of the Rajya Sabha today when former Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi was continuously being interrupted by UPA members during Question Hour. NDA members became restless when HRD Minister Arjun Singh while replying to a starred question on controversy regarding social science and history textbooks of NCERT said, "I regret to inform the House that the complaints made about errors and biased nature of the books have been found to be correct by the panel." He said that since the current academic session had already begun, the Government was trying to address the serious dilemma and added the recommendations of the panel of historians would be considered by the Executive Committee of NCERT on July 14. Joshi who got agitated over HRD minister's reply said that his answer concealed more than it revealed. Joshi's statement resulted in controversy over the issue, ultimately leading to protest from the opposition.

FM defends FDI (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that the UPA had a complex electoral mandate and it was up to him to interpret that mandate in his budget proposals for fiscal 2004-05. "It is a complex electoral mandate. As the Finance Minister, it is my duty to interpret it and act accordingly. If I don't, I face rejection like the previous government did," he said in his interaction with captains of Indian industry at the FICCI Auditorium this morning. He said that the UPA government had the mandate for continuing the reforms process and taking up measures not addressed by the previous NDA government rule. Investment in agriculture, basic needs of rural India and needs of social sectors like education and primary health care must be addressed too, he added. Chidambaram said he had no "apologies" for earmarking 50 per cent of the budgetary resources for agriculture sector since a large section of the population was dependent on it for livelihood.

           The raising of FDI in the telecom sector was not a big decision as "everyone knows it already has 74 per cent foreign capital, but in a non-transparent manner". The attempt is just to make more transparent what already exists as equity in the hands of holding companies, Chidambaram said. Referring to aviation sector, he said the controversy surrounding it was more than it deserved. He said the UPA had raised the limit from 40 to 49 per cent, which is the same as in the case of proposal to increase the FDI cap to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent was based on a demand from private insurance companies who wanted more capital. It would not be applicable in state-owned LIC, GIC and its subsidiaries, he added. Chidambaram said the proposed hike in FDI should not be looked at from ideological ground, but purely from financial accounting point of view.