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Mr Pawar is likely to continue with his present responsibilities, but he will get one or two ministers of state (MoS) to oversee three crucial departments of agriculture, food and consumer affairs.

The key vacancy in the external affairs ministry, after Shashi Tharoor's exit in April could be filled by MoS in commerce ministry Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's phone call to LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan to greet him on his 64th birthday on Monday has signalled he could find a place in the Cabinet although sources close to Mr Paswan ruled out the possibility. There are also reports that RLD chief Ajit Singh could find a berth in the Cabinet with the Congress looking at expanding its base among the Jats.

With the Opposition gunning for telecom minister A. Raja accusing him of corruption, the PM and the Congress leadership may take a call on his fate in consultation with DMK chief K. Karunanidhi.

In the process of donning a corporate look, outsourcing has become the new mantra for the grand old party of India.

Taking a leaf from the private sector, the 125-year-old Congress has decided to trim its workforce and outsource jobs to up efficiency and cut down on salary expenses.

As a first step, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has offered a "golden handshake" to its 134 permanent employees. Its total staff strength is 300.

"As the number of employees in AICC is more than is actually required, it is proposed to reduce the numbers," said an AICC circular, a copy of which is with HT.

"The Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is a step in that direction," said the circular drafted by AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora.

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Source: Hindustan Times By Aurangzeb Naqshbandi Congress Goes Corporate, Golden Handshake To 134 Employees

Jat leader Birender Singh, known better for his "freestyle" speech and hard talk, is expected to file his nomination papers on June 29 at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana.

Though Birender Singh's candidature was almost certain right from the beginning with the CM's detractors, including Union Minister Selja lobbying hard for him, a number of other names like Mullana's were doing the rounds in the run-up to the decision.

Sources maintain that though Birender Singh's name had been cleared almost a week ago by the party high command, the party was awaiting the arrival of the Congress in charge of Haryana affairs, Prithvi Raj Chavan, who was abroad, before making it public.

Sources said Birender Singh, a five-time MLA and one-time MP, who ruffled quite a few feathers in state politics in his last term as Finance Minister with his plain speaking, was informed of his "selection" this afternoon.

Source: The Tribune By Geetanjali Gayatri Birender Singh gets RS ticket

Though its leader, Hannan Moula, and central committee member and Minister in-charge of Rajasthan, have all along been maintaining that the party would stay away from the election, a formal decision is yet to be announced by the CPM which has three members in the Assembly.

The Congress strategy depends on the decision of the CPM. If the party stays away from the election, it would be difficult for the Congress to muster support of the requisite number of MLAs to win the seat.

On the other hand, the confusion about the lone member of the JD(U), an NDA partner, over whether to vote for the BJP candidate was cleared on Monday as national general secretary of the party Chandar Raj Singhvi on Monday said that his party would remain with the BJP.

In another development, the BJP on Monday declared that VP Singh would be its first candidate and Ram Jethmalani would be the second. The decision was taken by the legislature party which met in Jaipur late on Monday evening. Jethmalani was building up pressure on the party leadership to make him first candidate.

The Government is exploring the possibility of inducting as many as seven new faces, with four vacancies existing and three present incumbents likely to be assigned organisational responsibilities. Singh is scheduled to leave for the G-20 summit on June 24 and return by month-end.

According to the Constitution's 91st amendment, the total number of Ministers ought to be 81 (15 per cent of the total number of members in the Lok Sabha). After the elevation of Meira Kumar as Lok Sabha Speaker and the exit of Shashi Tharoor from the Council of Ministers over the controversial IPL bid for the Kochi team, the Manmohan Singh Government presently has 77 Ministers.

With three more Ministers -- Shipping Minister GK Vasan, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi and Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken -- expressing their intent of looking after the party's organisational affairs, there would be a scope for seven new faces in the Government.

While Vasan is eager to return to Tamil Nadu as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ravi and Maken could follow suit in Kerala and Delhi in the organisational reshuffle of the AICC.

Source: The Pioneer By Kumar Shakti Shekhar Cabinet reshuffle may see seven new faces

Budhaniya was declared elected at the end of the deadline for the withdrawal of nomination papers at 3 pm, an Assembly spokesman said. The Opposition BJP did not field any candidate for the seat. The bypoll was necessitated following death of sitting BJP member Krishna Lal Valmiki early this year. Budhaniya's tenure in the Rajya Sabha will last till April 2012.

Meanwhile, for the biennial election to four Rajya Sabha seats in the state five candidates are left in the fray. Assembly Secretary and Electoral Officer HR Kudi said none of the candidates withdrew his name for the Rajya Sabha poll the voting for which will now take place on June 17.

The Congress has fielded Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and senior leader Ashq Ali Tak, while the BJP has fielded noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani and former MP VP Singh. However, former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia, who jumped in the fray as an Independent after the Congress did not re-nominate him to accommodate Sharma, has upset the political equation of the BJP which is now finding it difficult to get its both nominees elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Source: The Tribune Cong bags RS seat in bypoll

The party also glossed over the fact that these two nomi- nees, Vijay Darda (who has been renominated) and AICC secretary Avinash Pande (who contested unsuccessfully against industrialist Rahul Bajaj two years back), hail from the same region, Vidarbha.

Among the Union Ministers, Ambika Soni was, as expected, renominated from her home state Punjab. According to Friday's list, senior leader Oscar Fernandes is set to represent Karnataka again. But B.K. Hari Prasad's candidature for the second seat hit a wall with H.D. Deve Gowda's JD-S opposing it. With 30 surplus votes, the Congress needs another 16 for its second nominee. But the JD-S, with 27 votes, wanted a quid pro quo that reportedly included a cab- inet berth for Gowda's son Kumaraswamy. The deadlock continues.

The Congress also renomi- nated senior leader Mohsina Kidwai from Chhattigarh rais- ing speculation of her induction in the Cabinet.

Other nominees include Dhiraj Prasad Sahoo (Jharkh- and) and E M S Natchiappan (Tamil Nadu). Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's can- didature is yet to be announced.

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According to sources, the Congress high command has decided to repeat three retiring members of the Upper House -- Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, JD Seelam and V Hanumantha Rao. However, instead of retaining another retiring member, N Janardhan Reddy, it is likely to give a chance to Chowdhary, who had lost the Lok Sabha elections from Khammam constituency last year. Reddy is likely to be made a Governor.

Jairam Ramesh was being given a second chance despite strong opposition to "outsiders" within the party. Ramesh belongs to Karnataka and was elected to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh in 2004. Hanumantha Rao and Seelam are backward class and scheduled caste leaders, respectively.

The fiery Chowdhary's name has come as a surprise because she too has had to contend with a strong group of detractors in the State Congress.

Of the six Rajya Sabha seats for which elections will be held on June 14, the Congress will be able to retain four and Telugu Desam will bag two seats comfortably. The Congress has already stitched a tie-up with Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party.

Source: The Pioneer By Omer Farooq Cong may back Renuka for RS seat in Andhra

Besides Ramesh, others whose names were cleared today include JD Seelam, V Hanumantha Rao and N Janardhana Reddy. The Congress, on its own, could have won only three seats but it was able to ensure the victory of its fourth candidate after actor-politician Chiranjeevi of the Praja Rajyam Party met Sonia Gandhi and announced that his MLAs would vote for the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections. Sitting member and media baron Girish Sanghi failed to make the cut.

The other two ministers - Ambika Soni and Anand Sharma - who are also due for another term, will also be renominated. While Soni will be nominated from Punja, Anand Sharma is expected to be fielded either from Maharashtra or Rajasthan. Sharma is a sitting MP from Himachal Pradesh but cannot get re-elected from his home state as the Congress does not have the requisite strength in the state Assembly.

Earlier this week, the Congress had announced the nomination of Captain Satish Sharma, a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, from Uttar Pradesh. The Congress has only 20 legislators in the state Assembly but Sharma's victory is assured as the RLD and Mulayum Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party are supporting his candidature.

Source: The Tribune By Anita Katyal Rajya Sabha Poll: Congress Renominates Ramesh, 3 Others

Sonia Gandhi has also replaced the general secretary and in-charge of Bihar affairs, Jagdish Tytler with Mukul Wasnik, clearly giving weight to Rahul Gandhi's agenda to rope in the "youth power" in the run-up to the Assembly polls due in October/November.

The revamping of the state unit of the party precedes a protracted war between Sharma and Tytler. Moreover, most of the party legislators and cadre were opposed to the duo and had given in writing to the party high command to replace them.

The Congress high command's action is aimed at ending the feud in the party and strengthening its support base among the Muslims and Dalits. "Wasnik, a young Dalit leader, and Kaiser are reply to Nitish Kumar's efforts to expand his base among the Muslims and Dalits by taking up special measures to benefit the Mahadalits and Pasmanda Muslims," said a Congress leader.

At least 100 office-bearers of the state unit had offered in writing to the high command to demit their posts, demanding removal of Sharma and Tytler. Those who had offered to resign included MLAs, MLCs and former state Congress chief Sadanand Singh.

Source: The Telgraph Bihar Congress revamp

With a series of legislative, policy and administrative initiatives, the HRD ministry under UPA II is hurtling down the road to education reforms with a speed that has startled government officials, opposition parties and academicians.

After taking over, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal brought out a 100-day agenda for school and higher education sector. One year on, he has implemented the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, making education a right for all children between 6 to 14 years.

He did away with Class X boards for CBSE students and replaced them with Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), despite criticism and doubts from teachers and students.

In higher education, a number of leg- islative measures aimed at reforming the sector are being made.

"I have delivered what I had prom- ised. The Right to Education Act had been rolled out ... There has also been a change in the learning and teaching process with the intro- duction of CCE," said Sibal. But opinion seems to be against Sibal's move on examination reforms, with 33 per cent respondents of the HT survey agree- ing that they were carried out without consensus. Madhav Chavan, co-founder of educational NGO Pratham said UPA II had given an impetus to the RTE Act."I would say Sibal has done rather well ... But implementation of the Act and whether it leads to quality education of children remains to be seen." This is also revealed in the survey where 25 per cent of respondents agreed that the ministry did not have a roadmap for implementing RTE Act.

The RTE Act is facing a shortage of around Rs. 7,000 crore in the first year of implementation. The ministry has estimated a requirement of Rs.34,000 crore a year for a period of five years.

Source: Hindustan Times HRD MINISTRY - Putting education on fast-track

One set of statistics are well stacked up in favour of Transport Minister Kamal Nath.

In three years between 2007-2009, the government acquired 12,766 hectares and awarded 5,396 kilometres of road construction at a cost of Rs. 26,671 crores.

In the nine months of UPA-II, Nath has acquired 29,766 hectares and awarded 4,447 kilometres of road con- struction at a cost of Rs. 45,614 crore.

But there is another and an unpleas- ant side to the story. Against the tar- get of constructing 20 kilometres of roads each day, the ministry has built a mere 5.5 kilometres each day during the first year of UPA-II.

For the next fiscal, the Planning Commission has fixed the min- istry's target to construct 2,500 kilometres of highways at the rate of just 6.8 kilometres of road construction each day.

Last year's World Bank report on India's roads construction industry brings out other and disquieting facts.

Seventy per cent of construction contracts in India exceed time limits by more than a quarter, while 40 per cent of contracts experience cost over- runs of 25-50 per cent, says the report.

It further points out that, if the cur- rent rate of road building is maintained, India's construction industry will expe- rience a shortfall of 64 per cent in skilled manpower.

India has 110,000 highway engineers against China's 5, 00,000. Since 2001, the National Institute of Training Highway Engineers (NITHE) has trained 18,000 engineers. But, at this rate, is the ministry getting much clos- er to achieving the ambitious targets it has set for itself? "We may not be where we want to be, but we are getting there very fast," says the Minister of State for Transport RPN Singh.

srinandjha@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Srinand Jha ROADS & HIGHWAYS MINISTRY - Crawling in the slow lane

It is a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome: The politician in Mamata Banerjee has remained at conflict with her role as Railways Minister.

In the first year of UPA-II, the Railways have not performed badly.
Revenue earnings are up by approximately nine per cent as compared to her predecessor Lalu Prasad's term.

Banerjee's pet "Duranto" have been a runaway success, while preliminary loan agreements for the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridors project have firmed up.

Structural issues in the functioning of the Railways are also being identi- fied with Banerjee having released a white paper on the organisation's functioning of the last five years and presented a "Vision 2020" document.

But Banerjee's biggest drawback has remained her image. The minister in her has somehow always remained sub- sumed by her image as a street-fight- er politician determined to uproot the Left rule from West Bengal.

Reasons are not misplaced. Banerjee spent approximately half of the 365 days of last year in West Bengal (only Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister M.K.
Alagiri beats her to home sickness).

When the motorman strike threw Mumbai local train out of gear, Banerjee was preoccupied with electioneering for the civic elections in West Bengal.

"Functionally, as well as in her mental makeup, she had not moved out of her home state. At best, Banerjee is the Railways Minister of West Bengal," for- mer railways minister Ram Naik said.

The result: Despite good intentions, several schemes announced in the last budget have only been tinkered with.

Projects that have generated mar- ginal response include the "Yuva" train (for unemployed youth), the only ladies "Matrabhumi' local specials and the "Izzat" scheme for poor travellers.

srinandjha@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Srinand Jha RAILWAYS MINISTRY - Chugging along