Coal Mionister Jaiswal opposes govt on jewellery duty hike

 In what could be a big embarrassment to the UPA government, senior Congress leader and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has slammed that the excise duty hike announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on jewellery in this year’s Union Budget.

Reports, Monday, claimed that Jaiswal made these remarks while attending a meeting in Kanpur where he expressed solidarity with the jewelers opposing the excise duty hike.

Reacting to the move, the Coal Minister even compared some government departments to mosquitoes that suck their blood.

"For only Rs 100 crore of revenue I realise how much you will have to go through. Like mosquitoes in the night, in our country there are some departments that also suck blood," he was quoted as saying.

Bullion and jewellery markets have strongly opposed the imposition of excise duty on unbranded jewellery and doubling of import duty on gold. Many jewellery shops have remained closed in various cities in protest.

Importantly, the All India Sarafa Association has also approached the Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention in the matter.

Traders are protesting against the budget proposal imposing excise duty of 1% on unbranded precious jewellery and doubling of customs duty on standard gold bars and coins to 4%.

In a week after the Union Budget was tabled, sources claimed that the bullion and jewellery industry incurred a loss of over Rs 10,000 crore, including Rs 750 crore on the auspicious day of 'Gudi Padwa" in Mumbai alone.

Retail jewellers brought under the excise net by the recent budget proposal were more worried and requested shifting of duty to another form.

Traders have warned that imposition of higher levies may lead to a rise in retail gold prices by over 6% in the country, which is seeking to rein in a widening current account-deficit partly fuelled by record purchases in 2011.

All India Bullion and Jewellers' Association said the proposed excise duty on jewellery would affect the business and needs elaborate book-keeping which could be a cumbersome process for jewellers.

Sources says: 'Dinesh Trivedi out of Cabinet on Monday'

Union Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi will be out of the Cabinet on Monday, the UPA government has assured West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, as per sources.

Reliable sources have confirmed  that the Congress core group which met on Friday took a considered view on the matter and communicated this to the key ally of the UPA.

Trivedi will be dropped from the Cabinet on Monday and there will be a partial roll-back of the Rail fare hikes specially in the lower classes as part of the deal worked out to satisfy Mamata Banerjee.

Bank unions, Trade unions call mega strike on Feb 28

The UPA government is bracing for a mega strike on February 28, backed by trade unions cutting across party lines, in protest against rising prices, disinvestment of profit-making PSUs and violation of labour laws among other reasons. They will be joined by around 8 lakh bank employees who are protesting against reforms and outsourcing of jobs.

Almost all sectors, except railways, are likely to come to a stop on Tuesday.

The strike will be backed by most of the country's trade unions, including 11 central trade unions and 5,000 smaller unions, who refused to negotiate with the government after being called for talks at the last minute.

Interestingly, apart from trade unions affiliated to the Left, trade unions of BJP, Shiv Sena and UPA ally Indian Union Muslim League and even Congress have all come together to hit out at the government. According to senior union leaders, the strike will be near-total in Assam, Kerala, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.

The striking trade unions include the Left labour arms CITU, AITUC, UTUC and AIUTUC, and Congress's INTUC, besides BMS, HMS, TUCI and NLO who have joined forces in support of a 10-point charter of demands.

"This is the biggest formation of trade unions ever," said senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, who also heads the All India Trade Union Council. "Except the railways which has been left out, most industries like banks including RBI, PSUs, transport, telecom, oil companies and mines will come under the purview of the strike and it is going to be unprecedented."

Hitting out at the government, Dasgupta said, "The government knew about our demands and the strike call for long. I have spoken to the prime minister about the situation every time I met him and have raised the issue in Parliament. The labour minister was present at the last labour conference where the issues were spoken about. So, this dubious manner of trying to talk just before the strike does not make sense. We also want to talk but now we will do it only after the strike."

West Bengal may witness clashes as the Mamata Banerjee government is pulling out all stops to ensure that the strike does not succeed. It remains to be seen whether the erstwhile Left bastion is able to pull off a strike on Tuesday. The Congress, which is a coalition partner in Bengal, has supported Banerjee's move, though INTUC is very much part of the formation that has called the strike.

The strikers have opposed privatization and disinvestment of state-run sectors, "unbridled" corruption and price rise, and demanded steps to prevent industrial owners from breaking labour laws, social security for unorganized sector workers, amendment in the minimum wage act and abolition of contract worker system.

In contrast to the Left regime in Bengal, the nine-month-old Trinamool dispensation has already issued a circular barring its staff from taking leave on February 28. Senior ministers have been threatening departmental employees with dire consequences if they join the strike and a series of meetings are being held at the state secretariat to make foolproof arrangements for keeping life normal.

Curb on EC: Govt denies, but Note out in the open

A day after the government rejected reports of a possible move by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption to take the model code of conduct out of the purview of the Election Commission , a leading daily on today published the ‘secret agenda note’ which disclosed the government’s intention.

The Indian Express had yesterday published a report saying the Central government has begun the process to provide statutory backing to the election code, following which the poll panel would lose the right to act on complaints of code violations which would then be dealt with by courts.

Within hours of the report being published, three senior ministers of the UPA government had denied any such agenda for the seventh meeting of the GoM on corruption, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, scheduled to be held at 1.00 pm today.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, "To my knowledge, there is no such thing on the agenda. As far as I understand, it was agreed that once the elections are over there will be an all-party consultation on the issue about electoral reforms which are being pushed by the EC." He added, “But if it is raised by any political party during the course of discussion, we will take it as and when it happens.”

“From where this idea has come? But on the GoM agenda there is nothing,” is what Pranab Mukherjee told.

Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in Lucknow, “I am on the GoM but I am not aware of the agenda. It so happens that bureaucracy makes certain proposals and sometimes we discuss them while at others we reject them.”

Even the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in a statement that the claims were “totally misconceived”.

“...There is no such move under contemplation of the Government or the Group of Ministers... The GoM has not made any recommendation to make the Model Code of Conduct statutory or to take it outside the purview of the Commission,” the DoPT said in a release.

However, the note published by the newspaper clearly shows that poll code is on the ‘secret’ agenda of the GoM.

“...The Chairman was also of the view that ‘Code of Conduct’ was one of the biggest excuses to stall development projects, and thus agreed with the request of the Law Minister to flag this issue and its inclusion in the agenda papers. It was also suggested that the Legislative Department may also look into the aspects where executive instructions of the Election Commission of India were required to be given statutory shape. Accordingly, Secretary, Legislative Department, has been requested to make a presentation before the GoM on the progress made in the matter,” mentions the note.

Reacting to the development, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told the daily that the government’s move was “highly misconceived” and aimed at curbing the powers of the Election Commission.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley warned Cong playing dangerous minority card game

Accusing the Centre of trying to divert people's attention from major issues of corruption and development by offering reservation to minorities within OBC quota, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today warned the Congress that it was playing a "dangerous game".

Jaitley alleged that the Congress was dividing the country on communal lines for its petty political ends.

"They are trying to divert the attention people of Uttar Pradesh from the major poll issue of corruption and development and have started singing about social reservation for minorities out of OBC quota thus playing a dangerous game," he told reporters.

Jaitley termed the Akali-BJP government's five year tenure in Punjab as a "golden period" of the state, stressing that it was not a political alliance between the two parties but it a "real social alliance at the grass root level".

Lashing out at the Congress leaders, he said that the performance of the Badal government in Punjab was a contrast with the non-performance of the UPA government at the Centre. "They can compare very easily," he said.

Jaitley favoured a strong Lokpal at the Centre and an equally strong Lokayukta in the states.

In reply to another question, he said that cracks have started appearing in the UPA which had raised a question mark over the life span of the government at the Centre.

Sonia Blames BJP For Defeat Of Constitution Bill

Hitting hard at the BJP for having backtracked after supporting constitutional status for Lokpal in the Standing Committee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Wednesday, said that the real face of the BJP has come to the fore.

Reiterating Congress remains committed to a strong Lokpal, Sonia said, “I am very happy that an effective Lokpal Bill has been passed.”

However, she pointed fingers at the BJP saying that it was only because of the BJP that the government could not ensure constitutional status for the Ombudsman.

“The strength we wanted to give to the Lokpal…they did not want it. The BJP had committed to constitutional status for Lokpal in the standing committee but later they withdrew the support,” Sonia said.

Sonia Gandhi’s comments came after high-drama in the Parliament yesterday night which saw the government’s proposal to grant constitutional status to Lokapl being voted out by the Lok Sabha.

The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like SP, BSP and RJD.

Samajwadi Party (22), BSP (16) and RJD (4), which support the UPA government from outside staged a walkout, bringing the numbers down for the government.

A Constitution Amendment Bill to be passed should have more than 50 per cent of the members of the House present and of them, two-third support is mandatory.

Adding to government’s troubles, around 15 Congress MPs were also absent at the time of voting, leading to a situation where the government could not muster even simple majority of 273 votes in favour as it managed only 250 votes on the crucial legislation.

The Congress has reasons to feel embarrassed, especially because it was Rahul Gandhi's idea of conferring Constitutional status to Lokpal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday night expressed disappointment over the failure. "This is a bit of disappointment that it could not be passed," he said after the embarrassment faced by the government in the House.

Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee told the BJP-led Opposition, “It is a sad day for democracy, it is a sad for the institution. People will teach you a lesson."

On the other hand, the BJP had demanded resignation of the UPA government on moral grounds after it failed to get the Constitution Amendment Bill passed in the Lok Sabha.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has no moral right to continue in office," BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters after the embarassing development for the government.

"Rahul Gandhi's dream has been shattered. This shows the monumental inefficiency of this government,” he added.

Govt likely to table Lokpal Bill on December 20

With Anna Hazare threatening to go on hunger strike from December 27 if the government fails to fulfill its word on a strict anti-graft bill, the Centre is likely to introduce the Lokpal Bill in Parliament on December 20 with possible amendments.

Anna’s threat has put the Congress-led UPA government at the backfoot and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a special meeting of the Union Cabinet on Sunday to discuss the format of the bill and various recommendations made by the civil society and the opposition parties.

The Lokpal bill will be discussed and approved during the cabinet meeting and would then be tables in Parliament on Tuesday for urgent consideration and passage.

The Centre has also formed a three-member team of the Cabinet - comprising Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy – which will hold internal consultations to finalise the bill.

The final draft of the Lokpal Bill will be overseen by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, according to sources.

The consultations come in the wake of the meetings of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders this week and an all-party meeting on the contentious legislation, which ended inconclusively.

The fresh move by the government to introduce the Lokpal Bill comes a day after Anna Hazare threatened a fresh agitation from January 1 if a "strong Lokpal bill" is not passed by then.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Russia, will be back in the capital Saturday evening, a day before the scheduled special meeting of the Cabinet.