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Many engineers and MBAs were among the 200-odd youths who appeared in person here in response to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's talent search offer for his party's youth wing.

Gandhi has been trying to induct new blood into the Indian Youth Congress and to also democratise the body's functioning. Part of the plan is to invite well-qualified people to work with him and other IYC leaders on the revamp and on new programmes. As many as 198 canddiates appeared for the interview .

Many were engineers and MBAs working with highly reputed firms, earning good salaries. Such as Atul Mishra, who has worked with consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers or Rajul Chaturvedi, an IITian, who works with Apex Enterprises. Then there was Shabana, Pradhan of village Rajapur in rural Kanpur, who said she wanted to change the lives of the rural poor while working with Rahul Gandhi.His style of functioning frew her, she said.

Atul Prakash Verma has qualified for IIT this year, and he wants to be a member of team Rahul. "I will continue my studies but at the same time work for the Congress party under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi," he told Business Standard. Rakhi Mishra is a lecturer in Bundelkhand University and ready to leave her job to work in Rahul's team. "Working for the betterment of the country is a 1,000 times better than teaching in a university," she said.

Virendra Rathore, IYC's national general secretary and secretaries, Vinod Sultanpuri and Vikas Upadhya, said they were amazed at the response. All three were member of the team that interviewed the youths. Of the 198 who appeared for the interview, 25 were engineers, 10 were, 12 were MBAs, three were doctors, 10 were teachers and 58 were postgraduates.

Dimple Singh of Kanpur has done a B.Tech and trained as a pilot but wants to serve in the Rahul team, instead of going on with a possible assignment abroad. Then there were youths who weren't professinally qualified, but were as eager. Such as Sanidhya Bali, 17. He wants to continue studies but also work in rural India for part of the time, for the Congress party.

Four months ago, when stand-in finance minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the interim budget ahead of elections to the 15th Lok Sabha, the economy was in precipitous decline.

Things are different now.

Mukherjee has returned as the first-choice finance minister and will present a "proper" budget on 6 July, the first of the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) second term in power and one that will probably set the tone and tenor for the government's economic agenda over the next five years.

The free fall of the economy seems to have been arrested too, although the "green shoots" of recovery aren't visible to everyone. The worst, say economists who lean towards optimism, is behind us. Unless, add those who lean in the other direction, the global economy continues to shrink, another large financial institution collapses, or rising oil prices stoke inflation.

Still, Mukherjee should consider himself fortunate. He has more room for manoeuvre than could have been envisaged even a few months back. And the impact of the three stimulus packages that the government has announced should begin to kick in by July.

There are other things that are different as well.
The Congress has 206 seats in the Lok Sabha and calls the shots in the UPA, unlike 2004, when the tail wagged the dog. Indeed, an assertive Congress has achieved a moderate degree of success in calming its restive coalition partners without parting with key ministerial portfolios.

The UPA's new term will likely be a swansong of sorts for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee. Singh is 76 years old and Mukherjee just three years younger and both will be keen to leave their mark on history. Mukherjee is believed to have asked for the finance ministry when the Congress was looking to put its team together.

Together, these strands form the perfect backdrop for a big-bang budget. The Opposition is in disarray and it is unlikely that Messrs Singh and Mukherjee will pass up on the opportunity to deliver. Especially when economic indicators are beginning to change for the better.

Source: Live Mint Stage Set For Big-Bang UPA Budget

HAND HOLD: Congress plans to further strengthen its national position

"There is a need to streamline the organisation in these states. Experiments of all kinds have been undertaken in the seven states and none of these yielded results, " a senior Congress leader said.

 A shake up in the state leadership appears to be on the cards. In finalising the new leadership at the state level, the central leadership appears to be favouring leaders in the age group of 40 to 60 years. This would help maintaining a balance between youth and experience. "The party needs political activism, if it is to rebuild itself," a leader said.

In some states like Bihar, there is a clear crisis of leadership. In Bihar, where the Congress won only two seats, state level leaders and grassroot workers have consistently maintained that the party's state leadership was not responsive and did not work in tandem with the grassroot workers. The Congress leadership is aware that time is of the essence when it comes to Bihar since the state goes to the hustings in late 2010. "Even if we think strategically and work continuously in Bihar, it may not be enough. Elections are on in little more than a year and there is a lot of ground to cover," an AICC functionary said.

Source: Economic Times Resurgent Congress Plans Organisational Reshuffle In Seven States

The Rahul brigade looks set for a strong presence in the party organisation, though the thrust is to blend " youth and experience". The Gandhi scion is also keen to implement a one- man- onepost policy, in a bid to boost efficiency in the party and the government. Rahul, who is the AICC general secretary in charge of the Congress's frontal organisations, may himself shed some baggage.

There is also a view in the Congress that Rahul should be made the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) vice- chairman.

While his mother Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairperson, will call the shots in the party organisation, Rahul will focus on a few selected states, party insiders said.

The Congress has to fill the vacancies caused by four general secretaries -- Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, V. Narayanasamy, Prithviraj Chavan -- and also senior leader Veerappa Moily, who held the charge of Andhra Pradesh.

AICC secretaries Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken and Jitendra Prasada have also been made ministers.

Though there are some good youth leaders, the party will face a crunch of capable helmsmen if it sticks to the one- man- one- post policy.

Bringing in some state chiefs as general secretaries is also being considered.

According to sources, those from the Rahul brigade who are likely to make it to the AICC are Ashok Tanwar, president of the Indian Youth Congress and the Lok Sabha MP from Sirsa in Haryana, East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, and a youth leader from Tamil Nadu, Ramani. Tanwar and Dikshit may be made secretaries.

Rahul is reportedly eager to give AICC secretary Meenakshi Natarajan, who won from Madhya Pradesh, some bigger responsibilities.

He also wants to accommodate Mausam Noor, debutant MP from West Bengal and the niece of veteran Congressman Ghani Khan Choudhury, into the AICC. Manish Tiwary, who won from Ludhiana, may return to the AICC as a spokesman or secretary.

Source: Mail Today Rahul stamp on rejig

Gandhi, the general secretary of the party and a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, has used the same approach to good effect in Punjab. In the run-up to the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha, in which the Congress-led alliance returned to power with a significant majority, he had spoken about his efforts and ambition to revive the 124-year-old party.

He was one of the Congress' main campaigners in the elections and his strategy of going it alone in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has been credited by analysts as one of the factors that worked in favour of the party.

Gandhi's game plan in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat is not very different from what he did in Punjab: to nurture leaders in the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and eventually move them into mainstream politics.

Interestingly, the Congress isn't very strong in either Tamil Nadu, where it has typically played second fiddle to either the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or Gujarat, a stronghold of the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to IYC member Prakash Joshi, Gandhi wants to infuse fresh leadership talent into IYC through a transparent electoral process. He also plans to start touring these states later this year--the beginning of a campaign that will gain in intensity and culminate in 2011 in Tamil Nadu and 2012 in Gujarat when these two states go to the polls.

Source:Live MintTamil Nadu, Gujarat next on Rahul's agenda

In preparation, Congress is set to undertake a major organisational reshuffle after June 10. In the meantime the search is also on to fill gubernatorial posts, with vacancies arising in the Raj Bhavans in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from the need to prepare for state elections, Congress would like to use the reshuffle to tap into the "vast talent" pool available to the party and to bring in fresh faces into the organisation. Given that the party is keen to opt "one person, one post" formula as far as possible, four posts of general secretaries will fall vacant.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan and V Narayanasamy, who are currently general secretaries, have been inducted into the council of ministers. Several key leaders like A K Antony, Pranab Mukherjee also hold important party posts. The Congress leadership may have to rework the workload for these senior leaders.

Source: Economic Times Haryana may see early elections

Having given India its first woman President in Pratibha Patil and now with Meira Kumar, a Dalit, installed as Lok Sabha Speaker, the Congress president is likely to push hard to get the contentious legislation passed in both Houses. The bill-- conceived by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and introduced in Parliament in 1996 when I. K. Gujral was Prime Minister -- has been hanging fire ever since.

Now, buoyed by a resounding electoral mandate and elated over the presence of a record 59 woman members in the 15th Lok Sabha, it is believed Sonia wants to make a strong pitch for the bill to be passed.

In the past, strong opposition from regional satraps and OBC leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav managed to scupper the United Front, NDA and UP governments' efforts to pilot the bill through Parliament.

But, with support from NDA and Left assured and the voices of regional parties against the Bill muted following electoral reverses the Congress leadership believes the time is just ripe.

Last year, at Sonia's insistence, the UPA government, in a tactical decision, introduced the Bill in the Rajya Sabha braving serious resistance from regional leaders as a legislation introduced there does not lapse like in the Lok Sabha.

But in deference to some reservations among UPA allies, the legislation was referred to a parliamentary committee. Congress insiders say this panel may now either be reconstituted or a fresh one set up to speed up matters.

Source: Mail Today After Meira Sonia Wants Women's Bill

It was one of the slew of radical proposals by the ARC in 12 reports over three years. The aim - modernizing India's governance. The proposed oath of transparency would mark a shift in the Indian public administration from a culture of secrecy to openness. The ARC also recommended that the Official Secrets Act 1923 -- a hangover from colonial times -- be repealed and a truncated version be incorporated into the National Security Act 1980.

Manmohan Singh constituted the ARC in his first term as Prime Minister. So it is incumbent on him to get down to the task of implementing its recommendations, especially those that chime with the Congress' much-touted promise of taking India into the 21st century. As law minister in the new government, Moily should be keen to ensure his exertions as ARC chairman do not go to waste. The law ministry will have a say in the legislative business of other ministries, so there is much that Moily can do to push the next generation of government reform. It's all there in the ARC report. A sample of seven steps that could attune India's governance to the needs of the 21st century.

1 : Kick Criminals Out Of Politics: Acting on the ARC's
proposal that India should make it harder for law-breakers to become law-makers. The Representation of the People Act only disqualifies candidates who have been convicted and sentenced to at least two years in prison. The ARC recommended barring even those facing trial on serious charges.

2:Bring Legislators Under RTI: Adopting the ARC's
idea of making MPs and MLAs answerable to citizens under RTI, the UPA government's showpiece legislation.

3: Have Ministerial Code Of Ethics: Implementing the
ARC's suggestion that ministers have a code of ethics in addition to the existing code of conduct. The ARC also recommended that the PM and chief ministers submit an annual report on ministers' observance of the codes of conduct and ethics. The report would include specific cases of violation, if any, and the action taken thereon. Both codes and the annual report would be in the public domain.

4: Make The Corrupt Pay: Adopting ARC's proposal that those convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act be liable to make good the loss to the state or citizens and pay damages as well.

5: Make Govt Pay For Lies: Acting on the ARC's suggestion for a law along the lines of the US False Claims Act. This empowers citizens and civil society groups to seek legal relief against fraudulent claims made by the government in terms of pollution or social costs. Once the official claim is found by a court to be false, the agency responsible for it would be liable to pay penalty equal to five times the loss sustained by the exchequer or society.

6:End Secure Tenure Of Babus: Preventing conflict-of-interest issues for government servants by incorporating the improvements suggested by the ARC to the code specially meant for them. Repealing Articles 310 and 311 of the Constitution, the government should, as recommended by it, do away with the security of tenure guaranteed to babus.

7: Create National Judicial Council: Implementing
two pending pieces of legislation fine-tuned by the ARC, which relate to the creation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Rashtriya Lokayukta. With due representation from all three organs of the state, NJC would select judges and impose minor penalties on errant ones. Since the Central Vigilance Commission has jurisdiction only over bureaucrats, the Rashtriya Lokayukta would probe complaints of corruption against all MPs and ministers (barring the PM).

The first two days of the 15th Lok Sabha has been kept for newly elected members to take oath followed by election of the Speaker on June 3.

While initial reports spoke of the possibility of senior Congress member V. Kishore Chandra Deo as the most likely choice for the Speaker's post, Union minister and Congress Dalit face Meira Kumar has emerged the dark horse for the post.

President Pratibha Patil would address the joint sitting of both Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June four which would chart out the road map of the second term of the Manmohan Singh government which came to power with renewed mandate as Congress alone secured 206 seats. The party had 145 seats in the previous House.

With pre-poll allies, the UPA was almost near the majority mark of 272 and back by post-poll partners, the coalition strength has gone up to 322.

Source: India Today First session of 15th Lok Sabha from June 1

After innumerable rounds of intense discussions over the past few days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new government was finally unveiled today. Besides the 19 ministers who were inducted last Friday, the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi finalised an additional list of 14 ministers, seven ministers of state with independent charge and 38 ministers of state, who will be sworn in tomorrow morning at the Rashtrapati Bhavan's Ashoka Hall.

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi personally called up each of them to inform them about their inclusion in the ministry.

The magnum 79-member strong council of ministers of the new UPA government includes 19 members from the allies- seven each from the DMK and the Trinamul Congress, three from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one each from the National Conference and the Muslim League. The portfolios will be announced tomorrow.

Image Source: TOI

While the PM and Sonia Gandhi had little say in the selection of the ministers from outside their own party, the duo had to ensure that the list of Congress nominees gave adequate representation to different castes and regions, while keeping a firm eye on competence and accountability. Despite the painstaking exercise undertaken by them, which took several days to complete, there have been several surprise inclusions and exclusions resulting in rumblings in the Congress.

Image Source: Indian Express

Three Cabinet rank ministers and one minister of state represent Karnataka, which notched up a poor tally of six seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections. While former Chief Minister SM Krishna and Veerappa Moily were inducted last week, senior Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge was given a ministerial berth while fellow Kannidiga KH Muniyappa was named junior minister today.

Similarly, the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress managed to win only one seat, has bagged two Cabinet berths for Anand Sharma and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. In addition to Ambika Soni, Punjab's Preneet Kaur was made a junior minister today while Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh MP and a minister of state in the outgoing government, was upgraded to Cabinet rank.

In a sharp contrast, Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress outdid itself by winning 21 seats, has no representation in the Cabinet. Salman Khursheed and Sriprakash Jaiswal have made the grade as ministers of state with independent charge while Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh and Pradeep Jain are only ministers of state. The absence of a Muslim face from the Hindi heartland in the Cabinet is particularly glaring, especially since the minorities had shown a marked preference for the Congress in these states in the recent elections. While Khursheed is the only Muslim face from UP, the only other Muslim from the Congress in the council of ministers is Ghulam Nabi Azad.

For a Prime Minister who puts so many premiums on the good governance, former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's appointment as a Cabinet minister has raised many eyebrows. Deshmukh was asked to step down as CM last year after the 26/11-terror attack in Mumbai because of his poor handling of the situation. The only explanation offered for Deshmukh's speedy rehabilitation, when he is not even a member of the either House of Parliament, is that the Congress wants a Maratha leader at the Centre to counter NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Also, Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra later this year. Women have found adequate representation in the new UPA dispensation. While Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar and Mamta Bannerjee were among the 19 ministers who were sworn last Friday, today's list includes Selja, who has been promoted as a Cabinet minister, Krishna Tirath (Minister of state with independent charge), D. Purandeshwari, Panabaka Lakshmi and Perneet Kaur have been named junior ministers.

While experienced hands have been given their due, there are a large number of new and young faces in the council of ministers. Among the young Turks, Jitin Prasada and Jyotiradiya Scindia have come back for a second stint as junior ministers while Sachin Pilot, RPN Singh as well as Bharatsinh Solanki and Tusharbhai Chaudhary are among the newcomers.

Although, it was being said no first timers would be given a ministerial berth, an exception has been made in the case of Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, who debuted as an MP in these elections.

A big omission in today's list is former law minister HR Bharadwaj.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had a four-hour-long marathon meeting on Monday, deferred their scheduled meeting this morning on finalisation of portfolios for Congress nominees, party sources said.

There was no official word on when the two leaders will be meeting. There was speculation that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is demanding one more MoS berth for her party.

Within the Congress there has been jockeying for plum portfolios among those already inducted and those yet to be named to join the ministry.
The expected swearing-in this evening may be put off to Thursday in view of tomorrow being the death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.
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The world missed the significance of our baby steps in democratizing the Congress's youth organizations. Everyone wrongly assumed young Indians were allergic to politics and change. But they are eager to be active agents of change.

The election results are scant evidence of the chord Rahul has struck with youth with his attempts to throw open political parties to the next generation. In the last few months, we held elections for our youth organizations in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The result was the new vigour seen in GenNext during the Lok Sabha elections -- they took up campaigning in big numbers and turned out in hordes to vote. They seem to have backed Congress with great enthusiasm.

LONG-TERM VISION: (from left to right) Vijay Inder Singla, Sandeep Dikshit, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia

It is the young who can -- and will -- change the country and the way it is run. The basic problem arises from the simplistic assumption that the young are averse to "dirty politics". The urban middle class may be cynical about politics but in the rural heartland there are 5.5 lakh panchayats and several lakh young men and women serving as panchs, sarpanchs and as members of zilla parishads. According to a rough estimate, 70% of these elected representatives are no older than 35.

Surely that is evidence enough to show that the young are interested in entering the system to change their village communities? If the urban young are apathetic about politics it is largely because of the system's penchant for political institutions, the closed-door functioning of political outfits and the special status given to politicians. These are all negatives factors and breed revulsion among ordinary people.

The philosophy and purpose of Rahul Gandhi's internal democratization of the NSUI and Youth Congress was opening them up to the common people. This has created a feeling within the new generation that there is a clean way of getting into politics and moving into leadership positions. At the moment, many young politicians belong to political families and the positions they get are passed down as legacies. There's nothing wrong with that but there should be equal opportunity for others too if they want it.

It is not a small change. It would open up politics to all, making it possible for ordinary people to compete with the privileged few. Some may try to discourage the change, but it will happen. Ours is a longterm vision but the results of this election are encouraging, particularly because we saw huge youth participation in our campaign and the voting
process.

I went to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to contest the election. I was a first-timer in the big, challenging world of electoral politics. But the experience was phenomenal. Throughout the campaign, I would get scraps on my Orkut profile and phone calls from boys and girls who would introduce themselves as first-time voters who had cast their ballot in my favour. It was a very satisfying experience -- the flight of hope among those who possibly would not have taken to it with such gusto had they not seen change coming into the closed, 60-year-old world of politics.

Through Congress's philosophy of equality, India's young will change the way politics is perceived in this country. Politics and elections are seen as an ideological challenge, but young people see it as a management challenge. As the young enter politics, real issues will come to centrestage and the possibility of their own being able to participate in the process would cement their faith in the philosophy of equality, opportunity and change.

It will be a boon for society as it will undercut the school of political thought that promotes divisiveness. As we gain acceptability, there will be copycats. That would be good because they will be following our path.

But this may be hard for those whose politics is based on parochialism. Divisive politics marginalizes the youth it seeks to exclude. Youth participation in such parties will decline. Simply put, divisive ideology is antithetical to greater youth participation.

Barely four months after dropping its proposal to force TV channels to show only “authorized” feed during security emergencies, the government is now seeking to censor news portals and other websites, that too even at normal times.

Draft rules released this month empower a designated Central government officer to block public access to any information on the Net for wideranging reasons of security and national interest.

One glaring infirmity in the draft rules prepared by the department of information technology is that they make no stipulation for a prior hearing to the affected website. This is despite the fact that the web host who does not comply with the direction to remove the offending information is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to seven years.

Times View: The desire to curb the media’s freedom seems to run deep in the government. How else do you explain that while the draft rules give sweeping powers to officials, no attention has been paid to a basic thing like a hearing first? Babus tend to be quick in dubbing things as anti-national or compromising national security. Why should their ‘‘request’’ always be heeded? Also, what will these babus do if the web host is located outside India? Will the domestic media, therefore, bear the brunt of this potential abuse of power? The government should think this through before it finalises the draft rules.

Website gag: IT Act amendments not final Government had made an abortive attempt to gag TV channels through a draft notification amending the cable television network rules, but the sweeping power to control the content on websites is being fleshed out in the rules drafted under the recent amendments to the information technology (IT) Act.

Though it was passed by Parliament in December and the Presidential assent to it came in February, the IT amendment Act 2008 will not come into effect till the various rules drafted under its provisions, including the one on blocking public access to websites, are finalized.

Under the draft rules framed under section 69A of the IT amendment Act, every state or Central government department will be empowered to decide whether a certain news item, article, blog or advertisement relating to its jurisdiction is safe to remain on the Net.

Once somebody sends a “complaint” against any information displayed on the Net, the department concerned will take a call on whether the matter in question affects any of the six concerns mentioned in section 69A: interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or incitement to commit any cognizable offence relating to the other five reasons.

If it is satisfied about the need to pull the challenged information out of the public domain, the department concerned will send a “request” in the prescribed form to the “designated officer” at the Centre chosen by the secretary of the IT department. An interministerial committee headed by the designated officer will recommend whether the request to censor the web site should be accepted or not.

If the IT secretary approves the committee’s recommendation to take action, the designated officer will direct the intermediary or web host to block the offending information within the stipulated time. In the event of non-compliance, the designated officer can initiate criminal proceedings under section 69A, which imposes a maximum sentence of seven years on the web host.

The only remedy provided by the draft rules to media organizations is that a review committee will meet every two months to check whether the directions to block information have been issued in accordance with the IT Act.

Source:Times Of India Website Gag: IT Act Amendments Not Final, Govt Arming Itself To Censor News Websites

• Caught In The Web; Draft Rules Stir A Hornet's Nest: From Business-Standard

As expected, the week-long session will be devoted to the oath of affirmation to members of Parliament, election of the Speaker, address of the President to both the Houses of parliament on June 4 and discussions on the motion of thanks to the Presidential address.

Resolving to get going with government's priorities of bailing out the economy and further pushing the social legislations, the union cabinet met this morning, a day after it was sworn in, and decided to convene the Parliament session as early as possible. A recommendation to this effect will soon be made to the President, Home Minister P Chidambaram said today after the cabinet meet.

Although the deadline for expenditure approvals sought by the government in February this year (through vote on account) lapses sometime in late June, the government did not indicate presenting another vote on account in the first session of the new Lok Sabha. As was likely, the budget session of the parliament is likely to be convened sooner than expected this year, with Chidambaram today saying the budget could be passed by July 31, failing which a vote on account will be sought. That leaves the finance ministry with little time to move on this front.

As regards the business of the first Lok Sabha session, the first two days will be reserved for oath of affirmation to the newly elected members. On June 3, election for the Lok Sabha Speaker would be held, followed by the President's address to both the houses of parliament on June 4 - the date of commencement of Rajya Sabha session.

Source: The Tribune Lok Sabha session from June 1