Why Modi is keen on 3rd & 'final' cabinet reshuffle before 2019 polls

The long awaited cabinet reshuffle of the Narendra Modi government, its third and possibly its final before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, is set to take place by Sunday afternoon.

Laggards among the ministers are being dropped. Performers among ministers of state, including those with independent charges, are set to be promoted. Some of the leaders who have excelled in organisational work will be included in the council of ministers, and some ministers asked to return to party work.

New ally Janata Dal (United) will get representation. Existing allies, who need to be placated in the run up to the 2019 polls, could get more ministerial berths. There is still no clarity on whether AIADMK might be included in the cabinet.

However, the shape of the forthcoming expansion and reshuffle would highlight the failures of the Modi government on some of its key promises – job growth and skill development, improvements promised in the farm sector and Ganga rejuvenation.

Also Read : Is Modi winning fake currency war? A data you shouldn't miss

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised 20 million jobs a year if voted to power. However, job growth has been abysmal, and significantly lower than the last three years of the UPA 2 government. The PM and BJP chief Amit Shah have argued how the MUDRA Scheme has provided loans to over 80 million people, which in turn has provided employment in the informal sector.

But it's becoming increasingly apparent that the over two percent dip in GDP growth, the impact of demonetisation and inability of the industry to invest resulted in poor job growth. The Modi government’s plans to impart skills to a large section of the youths has fallen way short of its targets. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, despite his hard work in what was a newly carved out ministry in 2014, couldn’t meet the PM’s expectations as the minister of state (independent charge) for skill development and entrepreneurship. (more)

Modi's Independence Day speech is all about creating a 'New India'

Says note ban helped nab shell firms and GST increased efficiency

In the penultimate Independence Day speech of his current term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday looked beyond the Lok Sabha polls due in April 2019 to give a call for building a “new India” by 2022.

If in his previous three speeches, the PM had announced such path-brea king steps as the abolition of the Planning Commission and schemes such as Startup India and Stand-Up India, Modi’s speech on Tuesday was devoid of new announcements except the launch of a website to honour gallantry award winners.

Instead, the PM focused on giving a report card of his government’s performance in the last three years and spelt out his vision of a “new India”. He indicated the lynchpins of his Lok Sabha campaign would be his government’s efforts at curbing corruption, building modern infrastructure, and delivering welfare.

Also Read : More shell firms found: PAN deactivation jolt for tax evaders in stock market

Modi said by 2022, the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, he envisioned a country where each family would have a pucca house, electricity, and power supply; farmers would earn twice of what they get currently; the country would be free of terrorism, communalism, casteism, corruption, and nepotism; and it would be clean and healthy.

The PM appealed to people to leave behind the “chalta hai” attitude, to think of “badal sakta hai”, or we can transform. Asking countrymen to take the “New India pledge and move ahead”, the PM quoted from scriptures: “If we don’t accomplish work within a stipulated time, we shall not be able to get the desired results.”

Modi asked people to replicate between 2017 and 2022 the resolve Indians showed from 1942 (Quit India Movement) to 1947. He said if Quit India’s slogan was “Bharat chhoro” today’s slogan should be “Bharat jodo”. (more)

Maternity Bill passed: 26 weeks paid leave, creche a must, other highlights

A day after the world celebrated the International Women's Day, the Parliament on Thursday passed a bill that will benefit about 1.8 million women in India. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by the Lok Sabha, months after the Rajya Sabha approved the measure that takes India to the third position in terms of the number of weeks for maternity leave after Canada and Norway where it is 50 weeks and 44 weeks, respectively. While the bill has given many women reasons to cheer, it has left others with a heartburn.

It is a “historic day for women”, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said, adding that the Bill will “pave the way for a healthy and secure mother and a well-nourished child”. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi called it a “momentous step” and thanked her colleagues for supporting the Bill.

Top highlights of The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016

* The Bill aims to protect the employment of women during the time of pregnancy and entitles them to full paid absence from work to take care of their child

* Women working in the organised sector will now be entitled to paid maternity leave of 26 weeks, up from 12 weeks

* The maternity leave beyond the first two children will continue to be 12 weeks

* The new law will apply to all establishments employing 10 or more people and the entitlement will be for only up to first two children. For third child, the entitlement will be for only 12 weeks.

* The bill also makes it mandatory for employers in establishments with 30 women or 50 employees, whichever is less, to provide crèche facilities either in office or in any place within a 500-metre radius.

Aslo Read :

Election Results 2017 Live - UP, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur

I am 'adopted son' of UP, says PM Modi

He said the future of the state cannot be ensured without ridding it of SP, BSP, Congress

Calling himself the “adopted son” of UP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the future of the state could not be ensured without ridding it of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress. Invoking Lord Krishna at an election meeting here to suggest a strong connect between Gujarat and UP, Modi, who represents Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, said the state was his “mai-baap” (parents) and he will not desert it.

“Vote for a full majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party. I promise to show you the ways of all the problems you are facing within five years,” he said, telling the crowd that all pollsters had predicted BJP getting massive support in the first two phases of polling.

Highlighting the problems faced by the state and its national importance, Modi said poverty will be removed from the country only when it is eradicated from UP.

“This is the land of Ganga and Yamuna where the land is most fertile with crores of labourours but poverty still exists here...why is this so? There is nothing wrong with the people here or their capabilities or shortage of resources,” he said.

BJP silences critics, condemns attack on Dalits

BJP silences critics, condemns attack on Dalits

With the Lok Sabha all set to take up a discussion on the matter of atrocities on Dalits, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday rubbished assertions that it was behind the recent incidents and said it unequivocally condemns the attacks against the community.

BJP leader Nalin Kohli said it is extremely unfortunate that these kinds of incidents are happening in this country.

"We condemn them completely, unequivocally. At the same time, while the concern is there that these incidents should stop, law and order has to immediately act against them, where ever the culprits are.," Kohli added.

"To believe that this is a conspiracy and the BJP is behind it is equally condemnable," he added.

The Lok Sabha is scheduled to take up a discussion on the matter of atrocities on Dalitstoday. A decision to this effect was taken by the Business Advisory Committee of the House.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and other opposition leaders had earlier raised the issue and sought the chair's intervention to allow early debate.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar had earlier said there is no hesitation from the government's side to discuss this issue, adding the ruling dispensation has always been open for discussion.(more)

Assam: How BJP learnt from past mistakes and Rahul Gandhi let it slip

Assam: How BJP learnt from past mistakes and Rahul Gandhi let it slip

In Assam, the Congress might blame its defeat on a 15-year anti-incumbency. However, it was worsted as much by the effective strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the nonchalance of its Vice President Rahul Gandhi in retaining talent.

A more audacious leader could have tried harder to keep Himanta Biswa Sarma and his group of rebel legislators in the party. After he quit the Congress last year, Sarma bitterly spoke about how Rahul Gandhi would show more interest in petting his dog than focus on the discussion at hand when Sarma met him over several meetings in 2014-15.

In contrast, the BJP leadership had an eye on the Assam Assembly polls ever since it won seven of the 14 seats and 37 per cent vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. BJP chief Amit Shah underlined the importance of the victory on Thursday. He said it was a huge achievement for the party as Assam is a border state, hinting at the over 30 per cent minority population in the state. “A BJP government in Assam is as surprising for some people as our government in Jammu and Kashmir,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.Read more.

With eye on UP polls, PM Modi to launch 2nd anniversary celebrations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public rally in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh (UP) to mark two years of his government on May 26. Several senior Cabinet ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, too, will address a series of public meetings in UP. The state, which was the key to the BJP reaching simple majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014, is due for Assembly polls in early 2017 and this will be the party’s unofficial launch of its UP election campaign.

The PM will also visit his Lok Sabha constituency in Varanasi as part of the fortnight-long two-year anniversary celebrations. The BJP considers western UP its stronghold and the focus of the PM’s speech will be to highlight his government’s schemes for farmers, especially sugarcane growers, of the region.

There is also the possibility of increasing UP’s representation in the council of ministers. The party, in an effort to consolidate its Jat support base in western UP, has asked Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh to merge his party with the BJP. Singh, at least until now, is insistent that the two parties have a seat-sharing arrangement for the UP Assembly polls. Read more.

Ruckus in RS as Manohar Parrikar speaks on AgustaWestland deal

Despite opposition from the Congress, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikaron Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that he only wanted to give chronology of the events with regard to corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India.

"This matter is not of today, this pertains to year 2002. I just wanted to inform the House, the chronological order of events, without any comments on them, so that the House is aware of when it took place and what happened," Parrikar said in the Upper House.

"Whether they want or don't want, it is for them (Congress)," he added amid uproar in the upper house.

Parrikar, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modiyesterday, had earlier on Monday said that his address in the Parliament would include how and when necessary clauses or provisions were relaxed to suit the company.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, has accused the Centre of pursuing a politically motivated campaign to defame the grand old party through the AgustaWestland copter scam.

Meanwhile, former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi is being grilled for the third consecutive day by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its headquarter here in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs. 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

As per reports, the former IAF chief is said to have told the CBI yesterday that he met senior officials of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, while negotiations for the purchase of VVIP choppers were going on.

He also told the interrogators that he had met Finmeccanica's Chief Operating Officer Georgio Zapa in New Delhi on February 15, 2005.

The CBI yesterday quizzed the former IAF chief on the four firms which he and his wife set up after his retirement from service.Read More.

Aadhaar cleared through Money Bill route: Why Modi cannot use this option every time

Will the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government now use the Money Bills route to get Parliament — more to the point the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority — to clear legislation?
The fact is, getting all Bills to be classified as Money Bills to circumvent the Rajya Sabha could be a stretch.
The law on this is crystal clear.
Read more from our special coverage on "AADHAAR BILL"

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• Government subsidies should reach the right hands: Jaitley
• Opposition prepares to recommend amendments to Aadhaar Bill
• Aadhaar Bill passage a landmark development: Panagariya
• Lok Sabha passes Aadhaar Bill to empower citizens

Under Article 110(1) of the Constitution, a Bill is deemed to be a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters, namely:
(a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;
(b) the regulation of the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Government of India, or the amendment of the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Government of India;
(c) the custody of the Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from any such fund;
(d) the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
(e) the declaring of any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure;
(f) the receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a State; or
(g) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (f).
A Bill is not deemed to be Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered, or by reason that it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

Balram Jakhar, a leader who always looked out for farmers

Dr Balram Jakhar Ji was one of the most towering personalities to sit on the Lok Sabha Speaker’s Chair. An avid reader of admirable intellect, equally at home in a library or on a sports field with his towering 6 feet 5 inches’ frame. He will be missed.

 He will be missed by his family and farmers alike. He was born on the August 23, 1923, in village Panjkosi near Abohar in Punjab, which is close to the border with Pakistan.

He studied in Sangaria in Rajasthan and later in Lahore in present day Pakistan. He was an avid reader of books, loved poetry and could recite innumerable Sanskrit shlokas and Urdu poetry. His first language remained Urdu and he could also read and write in Sanskrit, English & Hindi. Read More.