Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi on Monday alleged that the Centre was ignoring the state's
repeated demand to install gates at the Sardar Sarovar dam.
"Forty years after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation
stone of the project, the state is still fighting for the installation
of gates at Narmada dam, only because of non-cooperation from the
Congress government at Centre," Modi said in Gujarat on Monday.
He addressed a farmers' rally after laying the foundation stone
of the ambitious Rs 10,000 crore Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation
project, which will take Narmada water to 115 dams and reservoirs in
Saurashtra. Saurashtra region gets less than average rainfall, and water
shortage is a perennial problem.
Centre politicising gate installation at Narmada dam, says Narendra Modi
"I met Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) many times and sought
permission to install gates, but received a cold response... which has
annoyed all of us," Modi said, adding that the installation work would
take nearly three years. "Nearly 60 per cent of water from Narmada river
goes to waste as the dam work is incomplete, which we could save by
installing the gates," he said.
"Congress has a problem with chaiwala (tea seller), but politics
should be in its place and Congress should not scuttle the aspirations
of farmers of the Saurashtra region.
"We have an economist Prime Minister and a knowledgeable Finance
Minister, but the country's growth rate in agriculture has stagnated at
two or three per cent, while Gujarat, which is facing shortage of water,
has achieved 10 per cent growth rate," Modi said.
Having finalised the 26:22 seat sharing formula, Congress and NCP in
Maharashtra are likely to swap Raigad and Amravati Lok Sabha
constituencies in the coming general elections.
NCP will most
probably field Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare, a close aide of
Ajit Pawar, from Raigad, while PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal will test
waters from Nashik parliamentary seat, replacing his nephew Sameer. NCP
will give the Amravati seat to Congress in return for Raigad.
NCP
had proposed that as Congress was unable to wrest the Raigad seat from
Shiv Sena for the three consecutive terms, it should be given a chance,
sources said. Similarly, NCP could not win Amravati seat, which was
unsuccessfully contested by Rajendra Gavai of RPI last time with its's
support.
LS polls: Congress, NCP may swap Raigad and Amravati seats in Maharashtra
However, Congress sources said that the swap was not yet finalised.
NCP sources said party supremo and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad
Pawar will meet ministers and office-bearers deputed to tour the 22
constituencies on Tuesday. "He will take stock of the political
situation in the 22 constituencies and discuss finalisation of
candidates. It is likely that both Congress and NCP will announce their
list of candidates after February 21," party sources added.
Home
Minister R R Patil has toured the Maadha constituency and interacted
with the local party leaders to discuss who would replace Sharad Pawar.
Pawar has been elected to the Rajya Sabha and has announced quitting
electoral politics. "The local unit of NCP is divided between senior
leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and Suresh Shinde, brother of local MLA
Baban Shinde," sources informed.
Despite the local unit in Satara
demanding that senior leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar be given the ticket,
it is likely that sitting MP Udayanraje Bhosale will be fielded again,
sources added. After some delay, Congress and NCP decided to continue
with 26:22 formula (26 for Congress and 22 for NCP) for the 48 seats in
Maharashtra.
NCP has already said that it will not part with
Kolhapur seat, and has decided to field Dhananjay Mahadik. The sitting
MP, Sadashiv Mandlik, had contested as an independent after being denied
ticket by NCP in 2009, and has since joined Congress.
Sources
said Congress was not demanding Hingoli for Indian Youth Congress chief
Rajiv Satav, as he had decided not to contest. Sitting NCP MPs Supriya
Sule (Baramati), Padamsinh Patil (Osmanabad), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai
North East), Sanjeev Naik (Thane), Praful Patel (Gondia) will get
tickets again.
Laxman Jagtap (Maval), Anand Paranjpye (Kalyan),
Suryakanta Patil (HIngoli) have been finalised. Ministers Jaidutt
Kshirsagar and Suresh Dhas are vying for the Beed Lok Sabha seat,
against BJP leader Gopinath Munde.
The fate of three death row convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination
case will be sealed on Tuesday when the Supreme Court will pronounce its
verdict on their plea for commutation of their sentence to life
imprisonment on ground of delay in deciding their mercy plea.
The
judgement will be delivered by a bench headed by Chief Justice P
Sathasivam, which had reserved its verdict on the plea of three
convicts--Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan- on February 4.
Their
plea was strongly opposed by the Centre which had said that it was not a
fit case for the apex court to commute death sentence on the ground of
delay in deciding mercy plea. Admitting that there has been delay in
deciding the mercy petitions, the government, however, had contended
that the delay was not unreasonable, unexplainable and unconscionable to
commute death penalty.
Verdict on plea of convicts in Rajiv Gandhi case tomorrow
The counsel, appearing for the convicts, had contested the Centre's
arguments, saying that they have suffered due to the delay by the
government in deciding the mercy petitions and the apex court should
intervene and commute their death sentence to life term.
The
convicts had submitted that mercy plea of other condemned prisoners,
which were filed after them, were decided but their petitions were kept
pending by the government.
The apex court had in May 2012 decided
to adjudicate the petitions of Rajiv Gandhi killers against their death
penalty and had directed that their plea, pending with the Madras High
Court, be sent to it.
The court had passed the order on a petition
by one L K Venkat, seeking transfer of their plea out of Tamil Nadu on
the ground that free and fair hearing would not be possible in the state
due to the surcharged atmosphere in favour of the convicts.
Finance minister P Chidambaram - attempting to be heard above the
sloganeering of lawmakers protesting against the Telangana Bill as he
presented his interim budget for 2014 - today said the government has
managed to contain both the fiscal deficit and the current account
deficits and has kept them below target.
He called out to all political parties to "pledge that we will do nothing that will affect the stability of the Indian economy."
With
general elections only months away, Mr Chidambaram cannot announce big
bang reforms or tax changes, but can list the achievements of his
government in his report card on the economy over the last year.
Following are the highlights of his speech:
Global cues not to overly hit India, India held its head above water during global crisis Fiscal deficit for 2013-14 will be contained at 4.6% Export seen at $326 billion showing 6.3 per cent year-on-year growth Growth for FY14 estimated at 4.9%; Q3, Q4 growth seen at 5.2% I reject the argument of policy paralysis Let history be the judge of last 10 years Economy in much better shape now than it was two years ago 10-year trend growth rate at 6.2 per cent, UPA I and II delivered above trend rate Fiscal deficit down, CAD down, inflation moderated and growth picking up Merchandise export to grow by 6.8% to USD 326 billion 3 more industrial corridors - Chennai-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai, Amritsar-Kolkata - under various stages of implementation GDP growth rate in Q3 and Q4 of 2013-14 will be at least 5.2% Power capacity rises to 234,600 MW in 10 years Expenditure on education has risen from Rs 10,145 crore 10 years ago to Rs 79,251 crore this year Sugar
decontrol, gradual correction of diesel prices, application for new
bank licenses, sick electricity distribution companies restructured Plan expenditure to remain unchanged at 5.55 lakh crore in 2014-15 Government fully committed to Aadhaar project. Even critics of the project will realise it's a tool of empowerment Budgetary support to Railways increased PSUs to achieve record capex of Rs 2,57,645 crore in 2013-14 500 MW fast breeder nuclear reaction in Kalpakkam to be ready shortly; 7 nuclear power reactors under construction National Solar Mission to undertake 4 ultra mega solar power projects in 2014-15 Rs 1,200 crore additional assistance to N-E states to be released before end of the year Rs 1,000 crore grant for Nirbhaya Fund will be non-lapsable; another Rs 1,000 crore to be given next fiscal Non planned expenditure at 12.7 lakh crore Fuel subsidy pegged at Rs 65,000 crore, food subsidy at Rs 1.15 lakh crore in 2014-15 Fuel subsidy worth Rs 35,000 crore to be rolled over in 2014-15 Rs
3,370 crore to transferred to 2.1 crore LPG users; Government committed
to Aadhaar-based LPG transfer but scheme on hold temporarily Defence allocation up 10% at Rs 2.24 lakh crore Government
has accepted principle of one rank, one pay for defence forces. Rs 500
crore estimated requirement for implementing one-rank-one-pay scheme for
armed forces in 2014-15 Food subsidy will be Rs 1,15,000 crore for implementation of National Food Security Act Budgetary support to Railways increased from Rs 26,000 crore to Rs 29,000 crore 2014-15 Rs 2,46,397 crore allocated for food, fertilizer and fuel subsidy I have kept Rs 5,55,322 crore for plan expenditure Re-capitalise public sector banks Fortunes of China and India has an impact on the whole world UPA government has clear line of sight to the goals we have set for ourselves Fiscal consolidation - achieve target of 3% deficit In a developing economy, we must accept that when our aim is high growth there will be moderate inflation In next three decades, India's nominal will be on third rank after US and China RBI must strike a balance between price stability and growth States have the fiscal space to bear a reasonable proportion for allocation of flagship programmes Disappointed that we have not been able to implement GST (goods and services tax) To place DTC Bill for public comments Minority bank accounts have swelled to 43,53,000 by 2013-14 from 14,15,000 bank accounts 10 years ago Rs 6000 crore to rural housing fund, Rs 2000 crore for urban housing fund Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers Excise duty on small cars, motorcycles, scooters reduced from 12 to 8 per cent till 30.06.2014. Excise duty on consumer durables cut from 12 to 10 per cent till 30.6.2014. Cut excise duty on mid segment cars to 20% from 24% Duty cut on SUV cars from 30% to 24%
Raising a red flag over the move by Delhi’s AAP government’s to bypass the Centre on the Jan Lokpal Bill, Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran has said the Bill must be presented to the Lieutenant-Governor before it is tabled in the state Assembly.
Parasaran has said the Bill can “become law in the National Capital Territory only after it receives the President’s assent”, it is learnt. His opinion came in response to L-G Najeeb Jung’s request for counsel on two counts: whether presenting the Bill in the Assembly “without sending the legislative proposal to the Central government” — as Arvind Kejriwal’s government has sought to do — violates the constitution; and whether the Delhi government has the power to legislate on matters concerning the Delhi Police and the Delhi Development Authority.
Parasaran’s opinion suggests the Delhi government will not only be violating the constitution if it sticks to its plan of “directly” discussing the Bill on the floor of the house, but adds that Presidential sanction is required to bring the Delhi Police under the Jan Lokpal. To support his opinion, the Solicitor General has relied on provisions in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, it is learnt. According to the Act, no Bill that involves expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India - as the Jan Lokpal Bill does - can be introduced in the Assembly without “the recommendation of the Lieutenant-Governor”.
Since the Jan Lokpal Bill’s provisions will “overlap” with those in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, passed by Parliament, Parasaran has suggested “the law can never come into force” without the President’s assent. Also, throwing a wrench in the AAP’s works is Article 239AA of the constitution which stipulates that the Delhi government cannot make laws with respect to the police, unless it is approved by the President.
As reported by The Indian Express, the draft Bill seeks to bring the Delhi Police within its ambit. Since Parasaran has not been provided a copy of the Bill, he has simply highlighted Parliament’s superior legislative power on this count. While the AAP government has said it will push the Bill without seeking the approval of the Union government, the Delhi Congress has said it will not support a bill which is not constitutional, setting the stage for a major confrontation between them.
