Bill to make education a right cleared

In a bid to demonstrate its commitment to social sector as well as financial reforms, with elections now just months away, the UPA government late Thursday night cleared a long-delayed bill making education for children up to the age of 14 a fundamental right, and also decided to raise the cap on foreign direct investment in private insurance firms to 49 per cent.

Announcing these decisions on Friday, finance minister P. Chidambram said the Cabinet had cleared the Right to Education Bill, which promises free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14. “The bill has been considered at several levels by the Group of Ministers. The Cabinet has approved the text of the bill,” Mr Chidambram said, adding that the HRD ministry would release the text after consulting the Election Commission in view of imminent Assembly elections in some states.

On insurance, Mr Chidambram said a comprehensive bill amending various laws in this sector would be introduced. It would, among other things, seek an upward revision of the FDI cap from the existing 26 per cent to 49 per cent in case of private insurance companies.

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Rahul ready to go to jail in Uttar Pradesh, says Sonia

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said that unless Congress workers in Uttar Pradesh were prepared to go to jail, a change in this state would not be possible.

"The day Congress workers decide to go to jail, I will also come here. If need be, Rahul will also go to jail with them," she said while addressing the concluding session of the two day general body meeting of the UP Congress.

The Congress president said the UPA government at the Centre had given several thousand crores of rupees to the UP government under various schemes and it was up to Congress workers in the state to ensure that it was being properly used for the benefit of the people. "The need of the hour is agitation and struggle.

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Cut prices by Apr 15, or we'll agitate: CPM

The CPI(M) said on Sunday that it would launch a nationwide agitation along with like minded parties if the UPA government failed to take measures to control the rising prices of essential commodities by April 15.

The Marxist threat comes on the eve of a meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the situation arising out of surging prices, particularly of some food and metal items, in the backdrop of spiralling inflation.

The 19th national congress of the CPI (M), now in session here, adopted a resolution expressing grave concern at the galloping prices and called upon the government to "shed its neo-liberal approach and initiate immediate steps to check the price rise." Briefing the media later, politburo member Sitaram Yechury said his party congress wanted the UPA government to strengthen the public distribution system, ban futures trading in essential commodities, restructure customs and excise duties on oil imports and punish hoarders.

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Nuclear Deal has to wair till differences are settled, Pranab told Bush

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee has told US President George W. Bush that the Indo-US nuclear deal will have to wait till the differences with the UPA's Communist allies and the Opposition BJP are resolved.

"We are trying to resolve the issues but it may take some more time," he said, in the clearest indication yet that New Delhi will not meet Washington's deadline of getting the deal past the US Congress before Mr Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.

Mr Mukherjee on Tuesday told a press conference held at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. towards the end of his two-day visit to the US that it would be difficult for him to indicate a particular time frame by which the UPA government would be able to close the deal.

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Government hopes Nuclear deal will be possible: President

As political differences continue on the civilian nuclear deal with the US, President Pratibha Patil said here on Monday that her government hopes that the agreement "becomes possible".

In her maiden address to a joint sitting of Parliament, President Patil said, "It is our hope that civil nuclear cooperation with the USA and other friendly countries will become possible."

"Our relations with the US have improved in the past few years and now span a wide spectrum, including high technology, space, agriculture, education and trade and other linkages," Ms Patil noted.

Terming the measures taken by the government as the architecture of inclusive growth, President Patil said it has accelerated economic growth. She said government programmes like Bharat Nirman, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission have promoted socially inclusive and economically manageable urban development.

However, the CPI(M) said President Patil's address missed out on significant issues, like the rise in prices of essential commodities, women's reservation and benefits for the unorganised sector.

Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters that the UPA government claims to be an architect of inclusive growth. "However, the government's policies seem to be giving birth to two types of Indias, one is India Shining and the other is India Suffering. The government's policies have only widened the disparity between the rich and the poor," he said. "It is the suffering India that resides in rural areas, that continues to suffer and farmers continue to commit suicide in the country," Mr Yechury said.

President Patil's speech also focused on foreign policy and said it seeks to promote an environment of peace and stability in the region and in the world. She said India had made every effort to strengthen Saarc, stood by Nepal in its political transition,


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Minister says defence deals need middlemen

A debate is raging within the UPA government about reviewing the system of involving middlemen in defence deals. It has been triggered by the fact that several defence deals, including the Eurocopter deal, have fallen through in the absence of such middlemen.

According to minister of state for defence Rao Birendra Singh, even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has questioned the defence ministry's policy of not involving middlemen. He said, "The policy of not involving middlemen is proving expensive for the country's defence preparedness. Military hardware that should have been inducted into the armed forces 10 years ago has not been inducted."

"In view of the disturbed neighbourhood we are living in, this means we are compromising on national security," Mr Rao Birendra Singh pointed out in the course of an exclusive interview.

The minister believed that though middlemen cannot be banned, "we are concerned about solicitation. Solicitation on behalf of a company is prohibited," he stressed....

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Image and Article source: Asian Age
Article taken from the issue: 28 Jan 2008