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When
yogis, atheists and heavies share the spoils…
New Delhi: With the Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader,
K. Chandra Shekhar Rao, opting out of the Shipping Ministry
the crisis in the Manmohan Singh government was sorted
out. T.R. Baalu from the DMK will now take charge of the
Shipping Ministry and his colleague S.S. Palanimanickam
will become the Minister of State (Revenue) in the Finance
Ministry. It was the DMK's contention that these portfolios
had been promised to it as per an agreement. The DMK ministers
are expected to take charge of their ministries today.
Dr. Singh has complimented Rao and described him as a
"yogi" in politics. Rao will remain a minister
without portfolio.
In related developments the Rashtriya Janata Dal nominee,
Taslimuddin, who had been named Minister of State for
Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise, has been made
Minister of State for Agriculture, Food & Civil Supplies,
Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. The change became
necessary after Santosh Mohan Dev, who has been named
Minister of State (independent charge) for Heavy Industries
and Public Enterprises, objected to the presence of another
Minister of State in the same Ministry. Also according
to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué, E.V.K.S. Elangovan,
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will
now be the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.
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Politburo
to 'spare' Somnath as LS speaker
Kolkata: The politburo of the Communist Party of
India (Marxixt), after day-long discussions here, unanimously
decided to "spare" Somnath Chatterjee for the
post of Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha. The decision has
been taken "in view of his experience in Parliament,"
the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet,
said after the politburo meeting and also clarified for
the country's benefit that it was the Congress "
who had suggested that he be the new Speaker. The suggestion
did not come from our end."
Asked about the possibility of the CPI (M) withdrawing
its support to the Congress-led coalition government in
the event of differences on the Common Minimum Programme
not being ironed out, the CPM general secretary ruled
it out. He also announced the politburo's decision to
appoint Basudev Acharya as the CPI (M) leader in Parliament,
with Somnath Chatterjee now becoming the Lok Sabha Speaker.
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Lahoti
is the new Chief Justice of India
New
Delhi: Justice Ramesh Chandra Lahoti was today appointed
as the next Chief Justice of India with effect from June
1.
Justice Lahoti succeeds Justice S. Rajendra Babu.
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Disinvestment
panel members disinvest …their tenure
New Delhi: The entire team of the Disinvestment
Commission, including its Chairman R.H. Patil, and four
part-time members have tendered their resignations, rendering
the advisory body defunct with only the member secretary,
Amitabh Bhattacharya, remaining.
Patil and part-time members T.L. Shankar, N.V. Iyer, V.V.
Desai and K.R.S. Murthy submitted their resignations en-masse
to Arun Shourie before he demitted office as the Disinvestment
minister after the NDA Government was voted out of power,
Government sources said.
The members have resigned to enable the new Government
have a free hand in re-constituting the Commission. The
Disinvestment Commission was reconstituted in 2001, initially
for a two-year period, and was given a year's extension
till October 2004. It had submitted recommendations on
38 PSU cases apart from review recommendations on Neyveli
Lignite Corporation Ltd, Manganese Ore (India) Ltd, Rites
and Project Engineering Corporation (PEC).
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EEPC
ups export target by 15 per cent
Kolkata: The Engineering Export Promotion Council
(EEPC) has fixed a target of $11.5 billion for the current
financial year, indicating a 15 per cent growth over the
2003-04 achievement of $10 billion. During 2002-03, engineering
exports crossed the $10-billion mark, recording a growth
of over 28 per cent over the Rs 770 crore export in the
previous year. This was against an overall export growth
of 16.37 per cent for the year. EEPC also plans to bring
out a strategy paper to achieve 15 per cent engineering
export growth in the next 5 years on a sustained basis.
The council was planning to entrust the strategy paper
project to a top national or international consultant.
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Exports
up 20 per cent in April
New Delhi: The country's exports have shown a growth
of close to 20 per cent in dollar terms during the inaugural
month of the current financial year, spurred on by good
performance across all product categories of consequence.
Provisional trade figures compiled by the Directorate
General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S),
Kolkata, and released by the Commerce Department said
the country's exports during the current fiscal year have
set off on "a positive note" with exports during
April 2004 being valued at $5,010.20 million, which is
19.95 per cent higher than the level of $4,176.92 million
during April 2003.
Imports during April 2004 are valued at $6,747.49 million
representing an increase of 20.78 per cent over the level
of imports valued at $5,586.52 million in April 2003.
In rupee terms, the imports increased by12 per cent. Oil
imports during April 2004 are valued at $2,201.40 million,
which is 51.37 per cent higher than oil imports valued
at $1,454.33 million in the corresponding period last
year. This massive spurt in oil import cost owed more
to the rise in crude oil prices globally than due to any
abrupt increase in domestic consumption, officials said.
The trade deficit of the country during April 2004 is
estimated at $1,737.29 million, which is higher than the
deficit of $1,409.60 million during April 2003, an official
release said.
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