BJP blames UPA policies for poor economic growth


Accusing the government of flip-flops, indecision and mis-governance, the BJP today said its policy paralysis and corruption have affected the country’s growth rate and left its economy in a mess.

Slamming the government for its “failure” to control price rise and inflation, it also demanded an “immediate” roll back of hike in all administrative prices of diesel, gas, petrol, rail and other services “as the common man is reeling under unprecedented economic burden.”

Targeting the government on the issue of corruption, it said, the VVIP helicopter scam and the Farm Loan Waiver scam are the latest additions in this government’s “unending list of corruption.”

“It is fascinating to note that Italy, which was to benefit from the helicopter deal, went after the bribe givers immediately when they got the wind of corruption, while India, the sufferer of this scam is not ready to trace the bribe takers. Mystery still shrouds over the mention of the recipients as ‘the family’,” the BJP Economic Resolution passed at its National Council meeting here said.

It said while the government has ordered a CBI probe, it is not ready to have it monitored by the court.

“It has neither registered FIR nor issued Letters Rogatory (LR). It is offering JPC knowing full well that it cannot investigate and come to conclusion. This fuels speculation that the government is more interested in ensuring a white wash to protect the bribe receivers rather than unearth the truth and punish the guilty,” it said.

It said the biggest failure of the UPA government is its inability to tame inflation and bring down the prices.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, while seconding the Economic Resolution, said India will scrap FDI in multi-brand retail policy when BJP-led NDA comes to power.

“Unfortunately, inflation is not the result of any natural disaster but is purely a gift of this government. Bad food stock management and distribution anomalies triggered the inflationary pressure in the first place,” the resolution said.

When the country is required to stock only 30 million tonne of food grains in the godowns, the UPA has stocked a huge quantity of more than 70 million tonne of food grains thereby creating shortages in the market and fuelling prices, the opposition party said.

Drawing comparison of the economic situation of the country between now and the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the resolution maintained that the BJP-led government inherited a lowly growth rate of 4% in 1998, but due to its commitment to make India an economic superpower, it had put the economy on a fast growth trajectory.

“As a result of the visionary leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India for the first time in decades witnessed 8.25% growth rate in 2004 when the BJP led NDA government demitted office.”

It said the NDA government had put in place the historic economic legislation – the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act which sought to rein in the fiscal deficit below 3%.

“Ironically, under the Congress leadership, it is the central government that has shown scant commitment towards this resolve while the state governments are instead broadly adhering to the FRBM targets which is reflected in their financial numbers,” the resolution said.

It alleged that inflation and corruption have become the “hallmarks” of the UPA government.

“The country also has to suffer the ignominy of experiencing economic downslide under the leadership of an economist Prime Minister under whom every economic macro-parameter has steadily declined…The BJP holds the Congress led UPA government guilty of non performance, policy paralysis and lack of direction,” the resolution said.

-PTI

Tough times ahead for Rahul, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family


Rahul Gandhi

 A special Congress session over the weekend formally launched Rahul Gandhi as the official No. 2 after party chief Sonia Gandhi, making him the presumptive prime ministerial candidate of the party for the 2014 general elections, but the battle is half won and tough times lie ahead for the 42-year-old fifth-generation leader of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Gandhi alluded to the challenges when he talked about the “poison” that came with such heavy political responsibility and the attached personal risks. His mother, who came to his room and cried on Saturday night, perhaps understands it better than anyone else.

Nine assembly polls – five big ones in Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, where the Congress will have direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party, and four in the northeast – will test his leadership skills.

The return of the third edition of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2014 will also depend on how the Amethi lawmaker is able to restructure and re-energize the party for the big political fight. He heads the party’s coordination panel for the 2014 polls.

Rahul Gandhi is also expected to give key roles to younger leaders so the party is able to reach out to all voters, 70 per cent of whom are below the age of 35. Connecting with the country’s youths, who are angry over corruption, crave for better systems of governnance and want accountability from politicians, will be a major task for the new Congress vice president.

The Nehru-Gandhi family scion would also be expected to spell out his position on various national issues clearly as he now holds an official post in the Congress.

While any success in the elections will bring him credit, he would also have to accept the blame in case of a failure.

“Rahul Gandhi faces enormous challenges during the coming polls as his leadership skills would be tested,” Zoya Hasan, who teaches political science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IANS.

“His speech after being made vice president pointed out many wrongs in the party. Now he has to set things right,” she said.

The move to make him vice president, which marks a generational shift in the 127-year-old party, is significant. Party insiders said the decision was postponed for a while due to reservations among some senior leaders. But members of the Youth Congress, National Students Union of India and the younger leaders in the party – who comprised a third of the 350-odd delegates at the session – made strong demands for his elevation.

Over 50 senior leaders who shared the dais with Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the session, not only heard Rahul with rapt attention, but stood up as soon as he finished his speech and were seen competing with one another in congratulating him. Rahul had arrived.

In an impassioned speech, Rahul made it clear that he does not hanker for power and stressed the need to transform the party’s systems and develop new leaders at all levels while saying the youths must be involved in decision-making.

Rahul struck an emotional chord when he related how his mother cried when she met him after his appointment.

The question now is whether he will be able to bring the middle class, especially the “restless and impatient” young, to the Congress camp from which they stood quite alienated over perceptions of corruption, misgovernance, inflation and insensitivity to issues that concern them

IANS

Rahul Gandhi aims at transforming India


25.01.2012 Индия политика Рахул Ганди партия Индийский национальный конгресс

Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and widely tipped as a future prime ministerial candidate, promised to work to transform the country in a speech Sunday.

Gandhi, 42, son of party head Sonia Gandhi, was elevated to the Congress party‘s vice presidency on Saturday.

He exhorted his party to prepare 40 to 50 leaders who can effectively run the country and called for a greater role for youth in decision-making.

“There is a young and impatient India, demanding a greater voice in the nation’s future,” he told a party conclave in the northern city of Jaipur.

“Our priorities are clear, the time has come to question the centralized, unresponsive and unaccountable systems of decision-making, governance, administration and politics. The answer is not in making the system better, the answer is to completely transform the systems,” he said.

While Congress leaders have maintained that Gandhi’s candidacy will only be decided at a later stage, the Indian media have forecast a face-off between Gandhi and Narendra Modi, a leader from the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party.

Mother, I want to live: #Delhi #gangrape victim


Even as Delhi‘s 23-year-old gangrape victim’s condition deteriorated, she has shown immense sipirt to live.

According to television reports, in a written communication to her mother, the girl has said: “Maa, main jeena chahti hoon” (Mother, I want to live).

Several politicians have been visiting the girl at Safdarjung Hospital where she was admitted after being brutally sexually assaulted in a moving bus on Sunday night.

On Tuesday night, Congress president Sonia Gandhi also visited the hospital to meet the rape victim.

Her condition, which had improved a little after she was operated upon on Sunday night, deteriorated Monday evening. Doctors are battling to keep infections at bay as the injuries are extensive. Her platelet count had dropped, with blood pressure being unstable.

The next 24 hours are critical. If she pulls through, her chances of survival will improve, say doctors.

Specialists from AIIMS trauma centre have been called in before doctors decide whether the girl needs to be operated upon further. They hope to curb further spread of infection.

Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognisance of the gruesome incident, Delhi High Court asked Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar to file the status report in two days.

Delhi High Court, which rapped the police for failing to prevent the rape in a moving bus, asked the government to provide best medical facilities to the victim and her friend.

Four of the six men who allegedly raped the girl have been arrested. The driver of the bus, in which she was gangraped and tortured, has been remanded to police custody for five days. Serch is on for two more culprits who are absconding.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also issued notices to Home Ministry and Delhi Police and sought a report on the incident within two weeks.  

First Jobs of Indian Political Leaders


Most of us would have not known that before becoming the public figures, what our famous political leaders’ first jobs were? If you have that curiosity, check out the list of the famous political leaders with their first jobs.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of our independent India was often called as ‘Chacha Nehru’. Nehru was an outstanding statesman and also a respected patriot. After he completed his early education in India, he was sent to Britain by his father Pandit Moti Lal Nehru for further education. Before becoming the Prime Minister of India, his first public career was started as the Chairman of Allahabad Committee. He was working there with such practical efficiency for which even his opponents praised him for his good job. He also served as an eminent lawyer.

2. Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi, earlier called as Antonia Edvige Albina Maino, is an Italian-born Indian politician and she is currently serving as the President of the Indian National Congress. When she went to study English at the Bell Education Trust’s language school at Cambridge, she met Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister in the year 1965 at the Greek restaurant. She was working as a waitress at that Greek restaurant which was inside the University campus. After she married Rajiv Gandhi in the year 1968, she took care of the family while Rajiv worked as an Airline pilot. Later after her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi was assassinated, her husband was elected as the next Prime Minister. During that time, as the PM’s wife she acted as his official hostess and visited number of states with him during his term.

3. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam


Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, was the renowned former President of our nation often called as ‘People’s President’. Before becoming the President of our nation, he served in many fields. Basically he was a well known aerospace engineer and he also served as a professor of aerospace engineering.He served as the first Chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram. Before all that, as soon as he completed his graduation from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, he joined as the chief scientist at the Aeronautical Development Establishment of DRDO, reports the Wikipedia. At DRDO, Kalam started his career after designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army.

4. Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh, born to the Punjabi family in the year 1932, completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Economics at the Panjab University at Chandigarh. He completed his further studies at the University of Oxford and after completing his Ph. D he worked for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and he also taught at the University of Delhi he worked as an advisor for the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 1991, he was chosen as the Finance Minister by then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

5. Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, is the son of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. After completing his Bachelor of Arts in 1994 from the Rollins College,he moved on to Trinity College of Cambridge University to complete his M.Phil in 1995. After graduation, he started working at the Monitor Group, which is a management consulting firm in London. In the year 2002, he joined as one of the directors of Mumbai based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private firm.

Indian Places where Sonia Gandhi Cannot Enter


There are numerous places in India where specific people are not allowed to enter. Strange, isn’t it? But as a matter of fact there are actually some holy places in India like temples where foreigners and non-Hindus are banned from visiting. It has not been long when Indian Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was not allowed to enter Guruvayoor Temple in Kerala just because she is a white skin and does not look Indian!
Here are few other places where the entrance remains closed to Sonia Gandhi (foreigners in General) and non-hindus.

Guruvayoor Temple

temples

Controversies are not new to Guruvayoor temple in Kerala and it became big news when prominent political leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Giani Zail Singh could not enter the temple because of its strict rules. Non-Hindu’s and foreigners are banned from entering this temple in spite of the wide protests from every sector of the society. Some years before, the priests of the temple conducted a purification ceremony after the visit of Union Cabinet Minister, Vayalar Ravi and his family, as they were not sure about the religion of Ravi’s son as his mother was a Christian! But, later on the temple board was forced to apologize for this injustice. The list of people who longs to get a glimpse of the deity Krishna at Guruvayoor goes on and famous playback singer Yesudas is one among them.

Jagannatha Temple

temples

Jagannath temple of Puri has the maximum number of controversies in its name which begins with the banning of Indira Gandhi‘s entry to the temple in the year 1984.Her marriage with Feroz Gandhi, a Parsi closed the temple gates before her and she had to see the temple from the nearby Raghunandan Library building. Sirindhorn, the Crown Princess of Thailand had to be the victim of a similar kind of injustice as she happened to be a foreigner and moreover a Buddhist. The most pathetic incident occurred in the year 2008 when food worth Rs.1 million was destroyed following a foreigner’s visit; in a country where millions find it hard to get a single day’s meal! The famous poet and saint Kabir, Lord Curzon and Guru Nanak are the other eminent people who were banned from entering the temple.

Lingaraj Temple

temples

Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar, described as ‘The truest fusion of dream & realty’ had to stop all the rituals for four hours recently as a 35-year-old Russian tourist entered the temple premises, which is off limits to non-Hindus. The priests even destroyed the ‘prasad’ worth more than Rs. 50,000 after performing ‘purification ceremony’, following the foreigner’s visit. ”We cleansed the temple as per tradition and dumped the prasad in a well as it was defiled following the unprecedented incident,” said Abanikant Pattnaik, the executive officer of the temple. Moreover, they also collected money from the tourist as compounding fee for breaking the rules and regulations of the shrine. Similar situations happened in the years 2008 and 2009 as well resulting in chaos and purification rituals.

Padmanabha Swamy Temple

temples

Padmanabhaswamy Temple (Thiruvananthapuram) credited with the title ‘The richest Temple in India’ and in the world has become hotspot for pilgrimage tourists, with the unearthing of the treasure trove. The number of foreigners visiting the temple has increased considerably, but unfortunately as non-Hindus are not allowed they have to peep from outside to get few glimpses and be satisfied by clicking some photographs. ”After the news spread about the temple wealth, we are witnessing a huge flow of both foreign and domestic tourists coming to visit the temple. Many foreign tourists have come to us asking for permission to enter the temple. But we cannot grant them the permission as per the tradition, only Hindus are allowed to offer ‘darshan’ inside the temple,” said V K Harikumar executive officer of the temple.

Goan Temples

temples

Some of the famous temples in Goa which permitted foreigners to enter the shrines had to restrict them from entering due to incidents of ‘scantily dressed’ tourists visiting the temple. Mahalasa temple at Panaji put up the board ”Entry Restricted for Foreign Tourists” and temples such as Ramnathi and Mangueshi imposed dress codes for both domestic as well as foreign visitors. Moreover, some of the foreigners out of ignorance wore garlands which were supposed to be offered to the deity, which made the local people angry and annoyed.

Sonia Gandhi: World’s Fourth Richest Politician


Sonia Gandhi is the world’s fourth richest politician, said Business Insider, a U.S. based internet news aggregator and publisher. As per the report, the UPA chairperson’s wealth is currently valued at $2-19 billion (Rs 10,000-45,000 crore).

The wide range given, $2-19 billion is a giveaway that these numbers may have been plucked out of a hat.

As per Netapedia, an online encyclopedia about India’s politicians and the political events, Sonia Gandhi has movable assets worth 1, 17, 70,468 and immovable assets worth 20, 24,300. This financial information was as per affidavit filed before the 2009 general elections.

Firstpost’s own estimate, based on income disclosed by Sonia Gandhi during the last general elections and the income-generating assets she owns, suggests that her annual income cannot be more than Rs 50-75 lakh.

Given the wide range within which her assumed wealth is estimated, it is obvious that Business Insider is not sure what the numbers really are. The online publication has sourced the story to a website called ‘World’s Luxury Guide’. Luxury Guide in turn traces its information to five other sources like OpenSecrets.org, Forbes.com, Bloomberg.com, Wikipedia.org, and Guardian.co.uk.

Five Indians in World’s Most Powerful List


As the world population goes beyond 7 billion, Forbes has come up with the list of 70 World’s Most Powerful People. It’s time to raise the champagne as the Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ranked among the top 20 powerful people in the world. While Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal are also included in the list, Azim Premji is the latest Indian entrant.

U.S. President Barack Obama gained the title this year by pushing back China’s President Hu Jintao to 3rd position. In spite of his struggles with the latest political affairs, Obama relics the position of the head of the state of the world’s biggest and most dynamic economy and is the commander-in-chief of the planet’s deadliest military; therefore, he can indirectly be stated as the leader of the free world.

sonia gandhi

Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest name in the list holding the 9th position. He took the biggest leap this year,as he jumped 30 positions ahead from 40 in 2010. Dawood Ibrahim, who headed criminal activities in Mumbai and allegedly provides financial support to terrorists, is ranked at 57th position in the list.

Disappointment embraced a few people as they fell off the list this year. Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced French politician and Naoto Kan, the former prime minister of Japan is a few to name. Ratan Tata could not retain his position in the list this year.

Though Sonia Gandhi dropped from 9th to 11th position, she still managed to hold her name in the list. India’s most powerful politician was recently out of the country to seek medical treatment while Anna Hazare’s hunger strikes shivered the whole nation. Among other titles, she is also ranked the 7th most powerful women in the world in the Forbes list. Gandhi is the real power behind the throne, grooming her 40-year-old son Rahul for prime ministerial role.

manmohan singh and mukesh ambani

The Prime Minister of India is considered to be the most incorruptible figure in Indian politics today. The Cambridge and Oxford educated economist has a great input in India’s economic reforms which has led to the growth of the country in recent times. Manmohan Singh was at the 18th position in the 2010 list and this year he is dropped to the 19th position.

 The second richest man in Asia and the ninth richest man in the world, Mukesh Ambani, is also among the world’s most powerful people, and is positioned at No. 35. Bagging many awards of honor, Ambani’s Reliance industries signed a $7.2 billion deal with BP that obtained 30 percent in 23 of its oil and gas blocks in India. Reliance shares dropped by 11 percent as government auditors suspected the contract as it has violated some terms developing some of the blocks.
azim premji and lakshmi mittal
The world’s largest steel maker, Lakshmi Mittal is the 47th powerful person in the world. His shares in ArcelorMittal are net worth of $6.9 billion and he looks forward to expand his company’s mining interest by buying Canadian miner Baffinland Iron Mines in January. The company partnered with Peabody Energy to buy Australia’s Macarthur Coal for $4.9 billion. Said to be one of the richest men in India, his daughter’s wedding was the most expensive in the recorded history of the world. The latest entrant in the list is the philanthropist Azim Premji. He now captures the 61st position in the list which belonged to Ratan Tata last year. Wipro with around $7 billion dollars is not performing up to the mark of late and the company’s chief co-executive was replaced by another Wipro insider to command the revenue growth. The company recently acquired the oil and gas IT services business of U.S. based Science Applications International Corporation for $150 million. Azim Premji has made a donation of shares worth $2 billion to fund his educational charity last December.

WIll work on plan to correct mistakes we have made: Sonia Gandhi


Acknowledging “mistakes” in the just concluded Assembly elections, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday indicated that the party would work out a plan to correct them.

“This is something we will have to discuss within and decide. We have to sit down and look at the situation and results in every state and then together work out a plan to correct the mistakes that we have made,” Gandhi said.

She was talking to reporters at the AICC headquarters here after reviewing the party’s performance in her one to one meeting with Congress office bearers.

“Every election is a lesson for us. Whether we win or lose, every election has a lesson for us,” she said.

To a volley of questions on the reasons that led to the party’s defeat in UP, Punjab and Goa, Gandhi admitted that “wrong choice of candidates” is also one among the many reasons.

“Many voters from Goa were unhappy with us and they voted against us,” Gandhi said. There is a view in the party that controversies surrounding the issue of illegal mining and the allegations against its Chief Minister Digambar Kamat was one reason why the party lost there.

While admitting that wrong choice of candidates resulted in setting up rebel candidates in many constituencies that led to the defeat of official party nominees, she said, “We did have better hopes for Punjab.”

To a question on whether it was lack of leaders that damaged party in these elections, a smiling Gandhi said, “rather than lack of leadership, too many leaders is perhaps our problem.”

Agency: PTI

Team Anna, BJP Rejects Lokpal Bill Tabled in Parliament.


The Congress-led UPA government has tabled the Lok Sabha 2011 in the Lok Sabha only to be welcomed by severe criticisms and opposition, both from the civil society and the political parties. 

Team Anna has mocked the Lokpal bill prepared by the Government and called it “anti-people, dangerous and useless.” The Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the unconstitutional” minority quota provision in the legislation and demanded the government to withdraw the bill immediately.

The Congress-led UPA

BJP leader and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj objected this particular provision and told, “We are disappointed. This is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has given dozens of rulings stating that any reservation should not be more than 50 percent.” “It is important we make a law that is not patently unconstitutional and later rejected in the court of law,” she said.

In a strong counter attack, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, said, “This is not just a piece of law. There is an agitation on in the country for the Bill and a committee has been working to bring this Bill. If a bill is struck by courts it doesn’t mean that Parliament doesn’t pass the bill. It is for the courts to judge the constitutional of a bill. Our job is to make and pass the bill. Let the court do their job, we will do our job.”

Anna Hazare rejected the bill saying “it is a betrayal of the people and the legislation would not provide for a strong anti-graft institution.” Anna challenged Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi for a public debate to justify the proposed bill as a strong one. Anna said that the new bill is useless as it does not have direct control over CBI and the lower bureaucracy. He was also quoted saying “Sonia Gandhi says the bill is strong. If it is so, let she come out and debate with us in front of media. Let people see it. Convince the people of the country that it is strong. We will explain how it is not strong.”

Kiran Bedi, member of Team Anna said, “The draft prepared by the government should be rejected and condemned in the strongest terms. This draft has several loose ends and due to this, the rational of the anti-graft legislation has been lost completely.”Referring to CBI being controlled by the government, she also was quoted saying “Of what use has a body’s power to merely inquire ever been, if the investigation that follows the inquiry will be controlled by the government?”

Anna and his team do not want CBI out of the administrative control of the bill as he says that the biggest victims of corruption are the poor who have to pay bribes to get any work done and that the ‘weak’ bill will not help the poor in their fight against corruption.

Team Anna also says the Prime Minister is provided with too many safeguards from investigation by the Lokpal and any inquiry against him would need a sanction of three-fourth of the Lokpal members in non-public proceedings and they would have no access through the Right to Information Act.

As the bill is tabled in the Lok Sabha, the anti-graft legislation will now be discussed during Parliament’s extended session on December 27.