DOCSLIB.ORG

Indian Federalism Under Modi: States No Longer Mute Foreign Policy Spectators

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Indian Federalism Under Modi: States No Longer Mute Foreign Policy Spectators December 2014 29 June 2017 Indian Federalism under Modi: States No Longer Mute Foreign Policy Spectators Tridivesh Singh Maini FDI Associate Key Points Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach towards Centre-State relations is driven by his personal experience and convictions. State government participation in foreign policy can no longer be restricted merely to the economic sphere. The State governments will need to have a clearer vision of the roles that they could (and should) play in economic and foreign policy. Summary In his three years in office, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly urged the states to emerge as drivers of the country’s growth story, and to play their part in strengthening ties with the outside world. The PM has often repeatedly invoked the concepts of “Co-operative Federalism” and “Competitive Federalism”. Co-operative Federalism is understood to be a purposeful relationship between the Central and State governments on issues pertaining to key economic and external policies. As Modi noted in a speech made to members of the Indian diaspora in the Netherlands: ‘India is about co- operative federalism. The Centre and States working together for the development of India, this is our effort.’ Competitive Federalism, on the other hand, is perceived to be the “competitive spirit” between states whereby they compete with each other for Foreign Direct Investment. Modi’s emphasis on a more significant role for the States is largely driven by his personal experiences as the Chief Minister of Gujarat state when, in that office, he reached out to investors outside India, especially in East and South-East Asia. Modi found that, on economic issues, the States did not have enough of a say and that the relationship between the Centre and the States needed to adapt to the changing economic and political situation of the country. Analysis Changes in the Economic Sphere One of the first steps that the Prime Minister took was to dismantle the Planning Commission, which he saw as a relic from the time when India imitated the Soviet model of planning, and replaced it with the Niti Aayog, which was designated a think-tank tasked with advising states on key issues. Among the key functions of the Niti Aayog are: 1. To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in the light of national objectives. 2. To foster co-operative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognising that strong states make a strong nation. There have been suggestions in the past to reform the Planning Commission, so that the organisation is in sync with the current political and economic situation. Ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia had pitched for the reform of the organisation in order that it retained its relevance. At the first meeting of the Niti Aayog, the PM stated that: State [Chief] Ministers gave many insightful views during the meeting. This spirit of co-operative federalism will enhance India’s progress and prosperity. It emphasised the need to expedite growth, investment, job creation, elimination of poverty and moving away from a “one size fits all” approach. There have been some positive results from this initiative. The Goods and Services Tax, which the Prime Minister’s political party, the BJP, and he, as the Gujarat Chief Minister, opposed, will come into force (as of midnight on 30 June 2017), despite that powerful opposition. In April 2017, Parliament assented to four important pieces of legislation that outline key issues and provisions pertaining to the single tax regime. The GST will replace a myriad of state and central taxes and help in creating one national market. The Prime Minister praised the Chief Ministers for putting ‘aside ideological and political differences’ to arrive at a common ground. He added that the consensus on Goods and Services Tax (GST) would ‘go down in history as a great illustration of co-operative federalism.’ Interestingly, the meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with representatives from the States and the Union Territories, Page 2 of 6 was held at Srinagar, at a time when tensions there were high, in order to send the message that New Delhi looked at key states as stakeholders and also to demonstrate that New Delhi wanted to change the current narrative in Kashmir. Apart from establishing the Niti Aayog and securing the successful passage of the Goods and Service Tax, an important step towards promoting greater co-operation between States is the “Ease of Doing Business” ranking jointly published by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The department, which is a part of the Indian Ministry of Commerce, has also helped in enhancing a competitive spirit among State governments. The main criterion on which these rankings are based is a 340-point business reform action plan, and the degree of its implementation by the States. The rankings for 2016, (from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016), demonstrate that a number of low-income states have improved their standing in the index. Some of those states were ranked among the top ten: Chhattisgarh (which had 97.32 per cent – fourth rank), Madhya Pradesh (97.01 per cent – fifth place), Jharkhand (96.57 per cent and seventh), Rajasthan (96.43 per cent and eighth). Some other states ranked fairly well, notably Odisha (92.73% in eleventh place), Uttar Pradesh (84.52 per cent and fourteenth position), and Bihar (75.82 per cent and sixteenth place). Even functions related to the Prime Minister’s “Make in India” policy, one of his flagship schemes, are held jointly with State governments. The Prime Minister has also tried to build cordial relationships with Chief Ministers, especially with the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar (of the JDU party), and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, of the Congress Party. Relationships with some Chief Ministers in eastern India, especially with Mamata Banerjee (who is also supremo of the Trinamool Congress) of West Bengal and Naveen Pattanaik (of Orissa) who also leads the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), were strained but seem to be back on track. Before the general elections in 2019, there are a number of state elections in 2017 and 2018. The support from regional parties, including the BJD, for the BJP’s choice for President – Dr Ram Nath Kovind – would certainly have come in as a shot in the arm for the party, as well as Modi. States and Foreign Policy In keeping with Mr Modi’s idea that States assist the Centre in conducting foreign policy, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi has established a States Division and a provincial dialogue was initiated with China in 2015. Indeed, a very similar initiative was launched by Modi during his term as Chief Minister of Gujarat. The foundations for state participation were laid because of economic reforms in 1991 and the rise of strong regional leaders as a consequence of coalition politics. Ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh understood the need for State participation in foreign policy, especially in the context of ties with neighbouring countries. A notable example of that point was New Delhi’s positive approach towards the outreach from Tripura (administered by a Communist government) to Bangladesh. Similarly, a non-Congress government in Punjab, led by the Page 3 of 6 Shiromani Akali Dal (an ally of the BJP), was not stopped from reaching out to Pakistan between 2011 and 2014 and promoting economic and people-to-people ties. State Participation in Foreign Policy under Modi Like his predecessor, PM Modi understands the relevance of state participation in ties with neighbours like Bangladesh. In the land boundary agreement signed with Dhaka, for instance, he thanked the Chief Ministers of the concerned north-eastern states for their support. The state of Tripura has played a key role in furthering energy ties and enhancing connectivity with Bangladesh. Power is supplied from Palatana (Tripura) to Bangladesh and Bangladesh supplies 10 GBPS of communications bandwidth from Cox’s Bazar to Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura. Both projects were inaugurated by teleconference by Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, in March 2016. In the context of the India-China relationship, there has been an emphasis on enhancing sub-regional interactions. One good example of the same is the State/Provincial Leaders’ Forum, which Modi inaugurated during his China visit in 2015. There has also been an increasing emphasis on sister city and sister province agreements. Among the agreements signed, sister city connections were established between three cities: Chennai-Chongqing, Hyderabad-Qingdao and Aurangabad-Dunhuang. Sister province agreements were also signed between Karnataka and Sichuan. During the PM’s Japan visit, a sister city agreement was signed between Kyoto and Varanasi. Sister City and Sister Province connections, if harnessed effectively, can help not just in enhancing people-to-people and cultural linkages, but even economic ties. Such links have benefited the US-China relationship, for instance. Modi has also sought to make the seven north-eastern Indian states key stakeholders in India’s outreach towards Bangladesh and South-East Asia, particularly Myanmar. Key infrastructural projects aimed at enhancing connectivity with Bangladesh and Myanmar have been expedited, including the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Corridor and the three- nation India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway. Regular consultations are held between the Central and State governments to address obstacles pertaining to the same. While speaking at the inauguration of the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge, the longest bridge across the Brahmaputra River, Modi again iterated the importance that he attaches to India’s north- eastern states in developing India’s ties with South-East Asia, saying that: ‘North-east India will be a hub of economic activity of our engagement with south-east Asian countries.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Red Bengal's Rise and Fall
    kheya bag RED BENGAL’S RISE AND FALL he ouster of West Bengal’s Communist government after 34 years in power is no less of a watershed for having been widely predicted. For more than a generation the Party had shaped the culture, economy and society of one of the most Tpopulous provinces in India—91 million strong—and won massive majorities in the state assembly in seven consecutive elections. West Bengal had also provided the bulk of the Communist Party of India– Marxist (cpm) deputies to India’s parliament, the Lok Sabha; in the mid-90s its Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, had been spoken of as the pos- sible Prime Minister of a centre-left coalition. The cpm’s fall from power also therefore suggests a change in the equation of Indian politics at the national level. But this cannot simply be read as a shift to the right. West Bengal has seen a high degree of popular mobilization against the cpm’s Beijing-style land grabs over the past decade. Though her origins lie in the state’s deeply conservative Congress Party, the challenger Mamata Banerjee based her campaign on an appeal to those dispossessed and alienated by the cpm’s breakneck capitalist-development policies, not least the party’s notoriously brutal treatment of poor peasants at Singur and Nandigram, and was herself accused by the Communists of being soft on the Maoists. The changing of the guard at Writers’ Building, the seat of the state gov- ernment in Calcutta, therefore raises a series of questions. First, why West Bengal? That is, how is it that the cpm succeeded in establishing
    [Show full text]
  • Jingoism Will Not Be Able to Surmount the Deep Discontent, Says Manish Tewari
    Interview Jingoism will not be able to surmount the deep discontent, says Manish Tewari SMITA GUPTA Former Union Minister Manish Tewari. FIle photo: K. Murali Kumar The Balakot bombings that followed the terror strike in Pulwama have given an edge to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)’s election plank of muscular nationalism and has, for the moment, at least, taken the spotlight off the failures of the Narendra Modi government. In this interview, former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari — who is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at The Atlantic Council’s South Asia Centre — talks to Smita Gupta, Senior Fellow, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, New Delhi,about the impact of the BJP’s nationalism card in the upcoming general elections, the role of the media in amplifying the BJP’s message, why the Congress has been circumspect on the subject and whether it is appropriate to use national security as an election issue. He also points out that while the Balakot bombings appeased public opinion to some extent, it has also created a new strategic dynamic on the sub-continent that will make it tougher for future governments to deal with incidents of terror. Excerpts: ill the Pulwama attack, the opposition’s narrative of unemployment being at a 45-year high, rural distress, the negative impact of T demonetisation, etc appeared to be gaining ground in the public discourse. But after the Balakot air strikes, that narrative appears to have changed. Pakistan, war, terrorism appear to be the preferred subjects. Does this not give the advantage back to the BJP? There are two parallel discourses: there is a discourse in the ether which is about Pakistan, Kashmir and war hanging low over the subcontinent.
    [Show full text]
  • Page 1 of 22 To, Captain Amarinder Singh Hon'ble Chief Minister Govt
    To, Captain Amarinder Singh Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ravi Shankar Jha Hon’ble Chief Minister Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court Govt. of Punjab Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law Shri Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa Prof. (Dr.) Paramjit Singh Jaswal Hon’ble Minister of Higher Education Vice-Chancellor Govt. of Punjab Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab Mr. Rahul Bhandari Prof. (Dr.) Naresh Kumar Vats Secretary Registrar Department of Higher Education, Punjab Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab Subject: Request for Granting Relief in Semester Fees due to the Economic Crisis Respected Sirs, 1. With due respect, this is to bring to your kind attention the economic stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and extended lockdowns on the families of RGNUL students. The cataclysmic damage caused to the various sectors of Indian Economy are unprecedented. At the micro level, this has hit the financial condition of many households across the country. In this scenario, many parents/guardians find it difficult to pay the fees for the next semester. 2. Further, due to the premature closure of campus caused by the pandemic and subsequent declaration of Summer Vacations (thus causing a shutdown for 2 months), a major portion of fees paid for the summer semester (Feb-May) remain unutilised. The period of two months (14th March-14thMay) for the purpose of this application has been calculated on the basis of the notifications issued by the University [Annexure-A] viz. - i. Suspension of routine in-campus activities w.e.f. 14th March onwards followed by another Order declaring total closure of the University w.e.f.
    [Show full text]
  • Lok Sabha Debates Lok Sabha
    LOK SABHA DEBATES LOK SABHA SHRI P.R. DASMUNSI (HOWRAH) : Sir, The Government should take a decision and give this to the Thursday, September 12, 1996/ Bhadra 21, 1918 (Saka) women ...(Interruptions) (The Lok Sabha met at Eleven of the dock) KUMARI MAMATA BANERJEE : Sir, where is the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs ? You please call him. (Mr. Speaker in the Chair] ... (Interruptions) [English] [Translation] ...(Interruptions) SHRIMATI BHAVNABEN DEVRAJ BHAI CHIKHALIYA (JUNAGARH) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, in this regard, I request KUMARI MAMATA BANERJEE (CALCUTTA SOUTH): all the Members to support the Bill, if presented and Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is a very serious matter. It is about pass it without discussion ...(Interruptions) providing 33 per cent reservation to women* in the Assemblies and the Lok Sabha ...(Interruptions) [English] MR. SPEAKER : What is serious ? KUMARI MAMATA BANERJEE : Sir there is a consensus in the House. ...(Interruptions) MR. SPEAKER : I understand it. KUMARI MAMATA BANERJEE : Sir, Shri Rajiv Gandhi was the initiator of this reservation for women in [ Translation] Panchayats and Municipalities. We have got it. DR. GIRIJA VYAS : Mr. Speaker, Sir, when there is ...(Interruptions) Now it is for reservation in the a consensus on the Bill and they all are welcoming it, legislatures. The Bill has been pending since long. My what is the objection in passing it. I demand that it should request to you, Sir, is that as tomorrow is the last day not be referred to the Select Committee. ...(Interruptions) of the current Session, it should be passed without discussion. There is consensus in the House on this [English] matter ...(Interruptions) SHRI NIRMAL KANTI CHATTERJEE : Sir, you have SHRIMATI KRISHNA BOSE (JADAVPUR) : Sir, I not understood a simple point.
    [Show full text]
  • It Is Well Known That After Independence, West Bengal Has Been Lagging Increasingly Behind Many Other States of India in the Field of Industrial Production
    The Political Economy of Decline of Industry in West Bengal: Experiences of a Marxist State Within a Mixed Economy Subhash C. Ray University of Connecticut Working Paper 2011-10 May 2011 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DECLINE OF INDUSTRY IN WEST BENGAL: EXPERIENCES OF A MARXIST STATE WITHIN A MIXED ECONOMY Subhash C Ray Department of Economics University of Connecticut Storrs CT 06269 USA [email protected] Over more than six decades following Independence, industry in West Bengal has steadily gone downhill. Usually the Left Front government effectively controlled by the Marxist Communist Party (CPM), that has ruled the state for the past 34 years until its recent defeat in the state assembly elections, is held responsible for the plight of industry in the state. The party and its followers, on the other hand, blame denial of the due share of the state in the central resources by a hostile government at the center for industrial retardation. This paper takes a close look at the available statistical evidence to argue that the main reason for the decline is a direct outcome of poor work culture, political interference, and failure of governance that has resulted in industrial anarchy that scares off private investment in the state. While the Left Front has its share of responsibility, the newly anointed Chief Minister of the State, Mamata Banerjee, has herself contributed generously to fostering and cultivating this chaos by calling wildcat general strikes in her erstwhile role as the ‘one person opposition party’. The only thing that can revive industry in West Bengal is liberating civil administration from the grip of political party bosses.
    [Show full text]
  • Is a Federal Party Possible?
    Established 1946 1 Pages 16 Price : Rupees Five Vol. 73 No. 10 Is a Federal Party Possible? April 1, 2018 Kuldip Nayar BJP’s Forays in North Eastern States and When former Congress President underline the Congress cooperation, Anti Minority Agenda Sonia Gandhi said that they would Mamata has said that she is daily in Ram Puniyani not allow the Bhartiya Janata Party touch with Sonia Gandhi. In fact, (BJP) to return to power, she hinted the leaders from other non-BJP ruled at a joint action on the part of the states are constantly in touch with India Needs Draupadi And Opposition. It also means that each other to see the possibility of a Not Savitri she does not want Prime Minister federal structure. Rajindar Sachar Narendra Modi to for the second If you recall, the Janata Party term. On its own, the Congress does was a federal structure. It did not not have the numbers to pose any last its course and fell because the Anti-Muslim Riots threat to the BJP-run government then leaders, particularly the top in Sri Lanka or Modi. ones like Morarji Desai and Chanran Irfan Engineer In all probability, as things Singh, quarrelling in public all the stand today, Modi looks good time, much to the exasperation of the enough to returning to power. people. Then the Jana Sangh wielded The three reverses in recent by- power because the opponents were Arvind Kejriwal’s Apology elections to the Lok Sabha and a divided lot. Once the non-Jana Letter and Middle Class Standard of Ethics state assemblies notwithstanding, Sangh parties came together, the Nishikant Mohapatra the BJP is capturing power in state Jana Sangh government was reduced after state and spreading its tentacles to a minority.
    [Show full text]
  • (IAAP) 18Th-20Th February
    UPDATED DATES BROCHURE EXTENDED ABOUT PUNJABI UNIVERSITY dedicated and highly qualified staff comprising of 4 Professors, 5 Associate Professors, 2 Assistant Punjabi University, Patiala, the second University in Professors, 3 Senior Technical Assistants and other 56th NATIONAL & 25th the world to be named after a language, was established Supporting Staff. Currently, the Department is running by the Punjab Assembly under the Punjab Act No. 35 INTERNATIONAL a M.A. course in Psychology along with 2 Post- of 1961 in the erstwhile princely state of Patiala, with Graduate Diplomas (P.G. Diploma in Counselling CONFERENCE OF the main objective of furthering the cause of the Punjabi INDIAN ACADEMY OF Psychology & P.G. Diploma in Child Development and language. Housing over 70 teaching and research Counselling) and a Ph.D. programme. While the thrust APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY departments, spread over 600 acres of land, the area of the department is Counselling Psychology, (IAAP) beautiful campus boasts of 1500+ teachers imparting other specialization areas of the faculty include Clinical education to 14000+ students in a multi-faceted, multi- th th Psychology, Personality, Creativity, Organizational 18 - 20 February 2021 pronged and multi-faculty environment. Punjabi Behaviour, Experimental Psychology, Cognitive University has been untiringly fulfilling educational Psychology, Social Psychology, Sports Psychology, Theme: requirements all over Punjab through more than 270 Forensic Psychology, Cyber Psychology, etc. The ACTUALIZING HUMAN POTENTIAL affiliated colleges, 9 neighbourhood campuses, 14 Department consists of 3 laboratories, namely, the constituent colleges and 6 regional centres. NAAC has Experimental lab, Testing lab and Biofeedback lab, awarded the University a ‘Five Star’ grade in the first which are well-equipped with psychological tests and cycle (2002-07) and ‘A’ grade in the second (2008-13) instruments.
    [Show full text]
  • Why New Delhi and Islamabad Need to Get Stakeholders on Board
    India-Pakistan Relations Why New Delhi and Islamabad Need to Get Stakeholders on Board Tridivesh Singh Maini Jan 1, 2016 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, at a meeting in Lahore on December 25, 2015. Photo: PTI Interest in Pakistan cuts across party affiliations in the Indian Punjab. It is much the same story on the other side though the Pakistani Punjab is often hamstrung by political and military considerations. The border States in India and Pakistan have business, cultural and familial ties that must be harnessed by both governments to push the peace process, says Tridivesh Singh Maini. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s impromptu stopover at Lahore on December 25, 2015, on his way back from Moscow and Kabul, caught the media not just in India and Pakistan, but also outside, by surprise. (Though the halt was ostensibly to wish Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday, the real import was hardly lost on Indo-Pak watchers) 1 . Such stopovers are a done thing in other parts of the world, especially in Europe. Yet, if Modi’s unscheduled halt was seen as dramatic and as a possible game changer, it was in no small measure due to the protracted acrimony between the neighbours, made worse by mutual hardening of stands post the Mumbai attack. In the event, the European style hobnobbing seemed to find favour with both PMs and as much is suggested by this report in The Indian Express 2 . However, such spontaneity is not totally alien in the Indo-Pak context. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to his counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, for the World Cup Semi-final 2011, which faced domestic criticism was one such gesture 3 .
    [Show full text]
  • Come September, Manmohan Comes to Dhaka
    ISA S Brief No. 214 – 15 August 2011 469A Bukit Timah Road #07-01, Tower Block, Singapore 259770 Tel: 6516 6179 / 6516 4239 Fax: 6776 7505 / 6314 5447 Email: [email protected] Website: www.isas.nus.edu.sg Come September, Manmohan Comes To Dhaka Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury1 Abstract This brief is a curtain-raiser to the visit to Bangladesh by the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in September 2011. It argues that globalisation is leading to a change in mind-sets that, if taken advantage of during that event, would lead to positive and beneficial results for both countries. If India has a disproportionate responsibility to improve ties, Bangladesh also has its own share, for, as the Bengali saying goes, it takes two to clap hands. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to visit Dhaka come September 2011. His Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina had travelled to India in January 2010. A decent interval has elapsed since then. A return visit has been very much on the cards for some time now. In recent times, concerned desks in both countries’ foreign offices have been humming with activity. Final touches are being given to a raft of documents to be signed during the forthcoming event. As part of the preparatory process, the Indian foreign and home ministers had descended on Dhaka in July 2011. Also Sonia Gandhi, the Congress chief, is to receive a posthumous award for her mother-in-law Mrs Indira Gandhi, in a somewhat belated but justifiable recognition of her contribution to the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
    [Show full text]
  • LOK SABHA DEBATES (English Version)
    .BSDI Twelfth Series, Vol. I, No. I LOK SABHA DEBATES (English Version) First Session (Twelfth Lok Sabha) I Gazettes & Debetes Unit ...... Parliament Library BulldlnO @Q~m ~o. FBr.026 .. ~-- -- (Vol. I contains Nos. I to 8) LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI I'ri ce .· Rs. 50. ()() 'VU"".&J:Ia.a.a IL.V .................. ~_ (Engl illl1 v«sian) 'lUeaJay, IIKcb 24, 1998/Chaitra 3, 1920 (Salta) Col.l1ine F« Raad CaltE!1ts/2 (fran &lltcn Salahuddin OWaisi Shri S. S. OWaiai below) 42/28 9/6 (fran below); SHRI ARIF HOfP.MW.D KHAN liIRI ARIF ~D KHAN 10/6 (fran below) j 11. /7,19: 13/3 12/5 (fran below) Delete "an" 13,19 (fran below) CalSSlsnal CalSE!1sual 22/25 hills hails CONTENTS {Twelfth Series. Vol. I. First Session. 199811920 (Seke)J No.2, Tuesday, March 24,1l1li Chain 3,1120 (lab) SUBJECT CoLUMNS MEMBERS SWORN 1-8 f)1:" SPEAKER 8-8 FI::L "'I-fE SPEAKER Shri Atal Biharl Vajpayee •.. 8-14 Shri Sharad Pawar ..• 14-15 Shrl Somnath Chatterjee .. 1~18 Shri Pumo A. Sangma .. 18-17 Kumari Mamata Banerjee .17-18 Shri Ram Vilas Paswan .•. 18 Shri R. Muthiah 19 Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav 19-20 Shri Lalu Prasad ... 21-22 Shri K. Yerrannaidu 22-23 Shri Naveen Patnaik 23 Shri Digvijay Singh .. 23-24 Shri Indrajit Gupta .. 24-25 Sardar Surjit Singh Bamala 2~2e Shri Murasoli Maran 28-28 Shri Shivraj ~. Palll .. ,. 28-29 Shri Madhukar Sirpotdar ... -_ ... 29-31 Shri Sanat Kumar Mandai 31 Shri P.C. Thomas 31-32 Kumari.
    [Show full text]
  • 01-067 Foff Fed Eng News
    State elections foretell a power shift at India’s centre BY PRASENJIT MAITI More than ever before, one-party India In West Bengal, the Congress formed Building and burning bridges is a thing of the past, and the balance of an alliance with its breakaway faction, These state elections have indicated power is shifting. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress. certain emergent trends in the Indian The Congress performed even better than There were elections to five state party system which are likely to inform the Trinamul Congress in terms of assemblies this past May. The Indian the country’s federal politics in the near percentage of seats it won relative to press described them as a mini general future. the total number of seats it contested. election, a prognosis of the relative health The Congress Party, out of power since of India’s federal political parties and ad- However, the Left Front, led by the 1996, is steadily reconsolidating itself in hoc alliances. Communist Party of India (Marxist), the states with the help of regional allies. returned to power in West Bengal for the In particular, observers looked to these It is a kind of Return-of-the-Prodigal-Son sixth time since 1977. The Communists state elections for indications of a change syndrome. This national party is engaged alone, excluding their coalition partners, in support for the ruling Bharatiya Janata in building bridges with once dissident won 143 out of the total 294 assembly Party-led National Democratic Alliance at but powerful factions such as the seats. New Delhi.
    [Show full text]
  • Aruna Chaudhary by : INVC Team Published on : 30 Aug, 2017 12:02 PM IST
    Exemplary performance of universities & colleges of punjab in sports field: Aruna Chaudhary By : INVC Team Published On : 30 Aug, 2017 12:02 PM IST INVC NEWS Chandigarh, The Higher Education and Linguistics Minister, Punjab, Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary has congratulated the Punjabi University, Patiala for winning the coveted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) trophy. The minister credited the players, coaches, parents, Sports Department and the university authorities for this crowning glory which has seen the university emerging as the top notch university in sports for 7thtime. In a statement here today, the minister said that this trophy has been awarded to the Punjabi University for its par excellence achievements in sports amongst all the universities of the country. The minister termed it as a matter of great pride for Punjab that the MAKA Trophy has been awarded to the university by the President of the country in a glittering award ceremony at New Delhi. Mrs. Chaudhary also said that it speaks volumes about the sporting prowess of the universities and colleges of Punjab that has resulted in Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, Panjab University Chandigarh and Punjabi University Patiala winning the trophy a whopping 43 times. The minister further said that the Chief Minister, Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh has decided to establish a sports university in Patiala which would lead to the sports sector in the state getting a further boost. www.internationalnewsandviews.com URL : https://www.internationalnewsandviews.com/exemplary-performance-of-universities-colleges-of-punjab-in-sports-field-aruna- chaudhary/ 12th year of news and views excellency Committed to truth and impartiality Copyright © 2009 - 2019 International News and Views Corporation.
    [Show full text]