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Petrol, diesel prices to be raised: Deora

      New Delhi: The government will raise the administered price of petrol and diesel in the next few days, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters here on Tuesday. Deora, however, said the government was keen to avoid a rise in the price of kerosene and cooking gas. "We are trying to see in some areas in kerosene and LPG not to increase the prices, in diesel and petrol some price has to be increased," said Deora, adding that his ministry would consult the Left and the Prime Minister. On Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government could not sustain the high level of energy subsidies and Deora said it would take a decision on raising fuel prices by the end of this month. The price of state-administered petrol and diesel has not been raised since September last year because of strong pressure from the government's leftist allies. Oil ministry officials say the retail fuel prices are linked to crude oil prices of a barrel, nearly below the global price.

UPA-Left panel reviews performance  (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA)- Left Coordination Committee today took stock of the coalition's performance in the key areas of economy and internal security following the completion of their two years in power. The meeting was attended by Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who have already briefed the UPA partners of the steps their respective ministries had taken in the past two years to fulfill their promises to the electorate. Talking to reporters after the first round of meeting earlier today, Minister of State in the Prime Ministers' Office, Prithviraj Chouhan said: "Twelve ministers of the government were requested to make a presentation on the flagship programs of the government and the achievements of their ministries". Other leaders of the Left and other partners that form the UPA were also present at the meeting. Chouhan said that the members of the Left Parties, whose support is crucial to the Congress-party led government's survival, sought clarifications from the ministers on various issues. He further went on to say that Home Minister Shivraj Patil had listed the measures being taken to improve internal security, including the plan to combat the menace of rising Maoist violence during the course of his presentation. "In his presentation, the Home Mister spoke about the broad themes of internal security, naxal violence, communal situation natural disasters and legislative measures," Chouhan said.

    Political analysts say barring the unfortunate chain of domestic squabbles, the government's performance in terms of ensuring growth and stability has been consistent. Under the economist Prime Minister, Asia's third largest economy has grown at an average clip of 8 percent in the past three years, estimating GDP expansion at 8.1 percent for the 2005/06 financial year which ended in March. But the government faces a grim internal battle amid a crippling stock market crash and a caste quota controversy that is threatening to boil out of control. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is at loggerheads with millions of students as they rally against its move to reserve seats for the backward castes in the professional schools. The issues has snowballed into national showdown with nearly three weeks of violence, hungers strikes and massive protests by students across, reminding people of a 1990 crisis when several upper caste students had burnt themselves to death against reservations in government jobs. Among the Left leaders present were CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, Forward Bloc's Abani Roy, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and CPI National Secretary D Raja.

PM call for fiscal prudence (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday said the government would maintain fiscal discipline but could not keep subsidising energy consumption at current levels. "We will ensure that we maintain fiscal discipline and manage our resources with care. No government can spend its way to prosperity," he said at a function to mark two years of his Congress party-led coalition government in national capital. Singh said his government had kept inflation in control despite soaring crude oil prices. "It must be recognised that despite the enormous pressure of high international oil prices, we have moderated its inflationary impact. However, we cannot continue to subsidise energy consumption on this scale. Our economy has been doing reasonably well these past two years. To sustain and increase the growth rate and find resources to support the poor, we have to manage our finances with wisdom and foresight," he added. India has not raised the state-administered prices of petrol and diesel since September because of strong pressure from the government's leftist allies. Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Monday the government would take a decision on increasing retail fuel prices by the end of this month. The oil ministry has estimated state energy firms would lose 750 billion rupees (16.4 billion dollars) in revenue in the fiscal year to March at current prices. The coalition's leftist allies say the finance ministry should cut taxes on petrol and diesel instead of raising prices, but the government depends heavily on the taxes. The combined deficit of the state and federal governments, which was almost 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2001/02, was 7.7 percent in the past fiscal year that ended on March 31, lower than the 8.4 percent in 2004/05. The economy has grown an average 8 per cent a year in the past three years on strong demand and the central bank expects growth of 7.5-8.0 percent in the fiscal year ending March, 2007.

Adarsh Kishore next Cabinet Secretary?  (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

      New Delhi: Adarsh Kishore, a 1969 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre and secretary in the Ministry of Finance heading the Department of Expenditure, left this morning for Srinagar to assist Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the two- day round table talks beginning tomorrow with Kashmiri political parties and groups. Is this an indication that the Prime Minister has made his choice for the next Cabinet Secretary? The post of cabinet secretary falls vacant on June 13 when the present incumbent B.K. Chaturvedi superannuates. The other two names that are doing the rounds are Reva Nayyar, 1968 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre heading the Department of Women and Child Development, and Union Home Secretary VK Duggal, also a 1968 batch IAS officer. According to the sources, Reva is not being considered for the post since she never held any senior posting during her career, and also because she remained on a long leave of eight years after her husband was posted abroad. For the same reason, Reva had to miss the opportunity of being a Deputy Commissioner of a district, which is considered a key factor while appraising the career graph of a bureaucrat. Duggal had recently got a two-year extension as a Home Secretary. As per the sources, any bureaucrat while on an extension period can hold the post for which he got the extension.

     Therefore, keeping in mind the pluses and minuses of those who were in the reckoning till this morning, only one name seems to have emerged for the senior most post among the bureaucrats in the country, that of Adarsh Kishore. One senior minister in the UPA Government on the condition of anonymity said that the conclusion which could be drawn from Kishore being sent by the PM to Srinagar is that "he is the right choice". "We will have to make the appointment keeping in mind 2009 when this Government would complete its term", he told a section of media persons.