Seven new ministers in Union cabinet
New Delhi: Retaining the external affairs portfolio, the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, affected the first major reshuffle and expansion of his council of ministers.

Three politicians from Maharashtra, Sushil Kumar Shinde, A.R. Antulay and Murli Deora were brought into the union cabinet. The reshuffle also saw Mani Shankar Aiyar being stripped of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, which has been given to Deora.

The expansion saw the entry of seven new Cabinet ministers, elevation of three to the Cabinet rank, and inclusion of 12 at the ministers of state level.

Shifted out of his current assignment Andhra Pradesh Governor, Shinde has been given the portfolio of Power. Antulay has been given the charge of Minority Affairs. Aiyar has been given Youth Affairs and Sports and retains Panchayati Raj ministry. Oscar Fernandes, who was holding the Youth Affairs and Sports portfolio after the demise of Sunil Dutt, now remains a minister without portfolio. Kerala got representation in the Cabinet with the entry of Vayalar Ravi who got Overseas Indians Affairs till now held by Fernandes.

The urban development minister, S. Jaipal Reddy, was relieved of culture portfolio, which has now gone to Ms Ambika Soni, who has been entrusted with Tourism and Culture. The Jammu and Kashmir leader, Saifudin Soz, has been given the charge of Water Resources and the JMM leader, Shibu Soren, makes a re-entry as coal minister.

RJD's Prem Chand Gupta, Santosh Mohan Dev and Kapil Sibal have been elevated to Cabinet rank.

RJD's Ms Kanti Singh has been shifted from Women and Child Development in HRD Ministry to Heavy Industries as Minister of State. Prominent among the new faces sworn in as Ministers of State (MoS) is G.K. Vasan with independent charge of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Pawan Kumar Bansal has been made MoS for Finance and Ajay Maken has been given Urban Development. Anand Sharma has been made MoS External Affairs and Ashwani Kumar will be MoS in Industries. Late Telugu Desam Party patriarch N.T. Rama Rao's daughter, Ms D. Purandareswari, is the new MoS in the HRD Ministry. M.M. Pallam Raju has been given Defence. The other new Ministers of State are Jairam Ramesh, T. Subbarami Reddy and Dinsha Patel, whose portfolios are yet to be decided.
Akhilesh Das is the new MoS for Steel, while Chandra Sekhar Sahu becomes MoS for Labour Ministry. Ms Renuka Chowdhary, who held Tourism, now moves to Women and Child Development.

In the reshuffle, E.V.K.S. Elangovan has been shifted from Commerce to Textiles; Rao Inderjit Singh from External Affairs to Defence; and B.K. Handique from Defence to Chemicals and Fertilisers. He continues to retain Parliamentary Affairs.
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Iran-Pakistan-India workshop on gas pipeline project begins today
New Delhi: In a major step ahead for the ambitious tri-nation (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, technical experts of the three principal countries along with the external experts are set to participate in a two-day workshop to iron out technical details of the project.

The workshop, which begins on January 30, would also help the three countries have a better assessment about the project cost, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said. The cost of the project is currently being estimated over US$7bn.

Senior officials from Iran and Pakistan are expected to attend the workshop, as are officials from GAIL (India) Ltd and IOC, representatives from the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), and Pakistan's Interstate Gas Company Ltd (IGCL).

Currently, India has estimated a requirement of 60-90 million standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD), while Pakistan envisages requirement of 30-50 MMSCMD. It is still to be finalised whether the quantity envisaged would require construction of one pipeline or two.
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4,000mw project to come up in Maharashtra
Mumbai: Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in Prime Minister's Office, said the 4,000-megawatt ultra mega power project would either come up in Dhopave in Ratnagiri district or Vijaydurg in Sindhdurgh district of Maharashtra.

The power project will be fuelled by imported coal. Such projects are also coming up in Gujarat, Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Bids for the projects would be tariff-based, he said.
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