Cabinet reshuffle: Finance for Chidambaram, Home for Shinde

July 31, 2012
chidambaram
New Delhi, July 31: Home Minister P Chidambaram has been shifted to the Finance Ministry vacated by Pranab Mukherjee, who is now President. Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is the power minister, gets Mr Chidambaram's home portfolio and Veerappa Moily, Corporate Affairs Minister, takes additional charge of Mr Shinde's Power Ministry.


A notification on the reallocation of ministries was signed by the President today.


On his new charge as Power Minister, on a day when half the country is reeling under a massive power outage, Mr Moily said, "There are no bad days to take over a job. People need to manage power better. Power shortage is known...a minister can't do all."

This reallocation also comes on a day when the government described inflation levels in the country as unacceptable; Mr Chidambaram has been finance minister before, and his appointment will be seen by many as signaling a shift in policy. The biggest criticism of the UPA 2 government, and the finance ministry under Mr Mukherjee, was what is called its policy paralysis. Mr Chidambaram is seen as pro-reforms.


Much noise, however, can be expected from the opposition benches. The BJP-led opposition has targeted Mr Chidambaram, even boycotting him in Parliament, for what it alleges is his role in the 2G scam. That dates back to 2008, when Mr Chidambaram was finance minister. But in giving him the crucial finance ministry back, the Congress, which leads the UPA government, has also sent out the signal that it backs its man to the hilt.

The Congress also needs to decide and announce, before Parliament meets next week, who will replace Mr Mukherjee as Leader of the Lok Sabha. There has been a demand from some Congressmen that two-term MP Rahul Gandhi be elevated to that role. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to take a decision soon; among those whose names have reportedly been considered is Mr Shinde.

Parliament sits next week for the monsoon session and the government had indicated that before the session began it would fill the important Finance Ministry. The Prime Minister had held interim charge for a little over a month now, but it was clear that the job needed a full-time minister with the economy struggling with slow growth and high inflation.

Mr Shinde has suddenly been the man in the hot seat over the last two days, with the Northern Grid collapsing yesterday, plunging 300 million people in darkness and then three grids - Northern, Eastern and North Eastern - collapsing today, leaving 19 states and 600 million people without power.

As Home Minister, Mr Shinde is likely to confront crises more frequently. Home is a much bigger assignment and comes to him despite the Adarsh scam cloud and a lack lustre performance as power minister. Mr Shinde, apart from being a veteran Congressman, is a prominent Dalit leader. Interestingly, he is the first former sub-inspector to be Home Minister, who heads all law and order.

This exercise is being looked at more as a re-allocation of tasks and a bigger cabinet reshuffle is expected in a couple of months.

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Agencies
January 15,2020

New Delhi, Jan 15: Suspended Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police Davinder Singh had ferried Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu to Jammu last year also and facilitated his return to Shopian after "rest and recuperation", officials interrogating him said here Tuesday.

"Meri mati maari gayi thi (I must have lost my mind to do what I did)," an interrogator quoted Singh as saying after the DSP failed to impress them with his theory of catching a big terrorist.

Singh was arrested last Saturday along with Naveed Babu alias Babar Azam, a resident of Nazneenpora in South Kashmir's Shopian district, and his associate Asif Ahmad.

He is believed to have taken Rs 12 lakh for smuggling the two to Chandigarh for providing them accommodation for a couple of months, officials said. The officials, who have been spending considerable time questioning Singh, said there have been many inconsistencies in his statements and everything was being crosschecked and corroborated with the confessions of captured militants who have been kept in different rooms at an interrogation centre in South Kashmir.

During questioning it emerged that Singh had taken them to Jammu in 2019 also, the officials said.

In a tone laced with sarcasm, they said the DSP was taking the militants for "rest and recuperation".

Naveed told the interrogators that they used to stay in the hilly regions to avoid the J&K police and left the areas to escape harsh winters, they said.

The official said the DSP's bank accounts and other assets were being verified by the police and papers were being collected, amid speculations that the case may be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Going into the service history of Singh, majority of retired and serving officials of the JKP spoken to referred to a proverb -- coming events cast their shadows long before -- to say that if action had been taken against the officer during his probation period, such things would not have happened.

Recruited in 1990 as a sub-inspector, Singh along with another probationary officer were subject of an internal enquiry where some narcotics had been seized from a truck. However, the contraband was sold by Singh and another sub-inspector, the officials recalled.

There was a move to dismiss them from the service which was stalled by an Inspector General rank officer purely on humanitarian ground and the duo was shifted to the Special Operations Group, a team of policemen engaged in counter-militancy offensive.

However, he could not last there for long and was shifted this time to the police lines only to be rehabilitated in 1997 again in the SOG.

During this period, he was posted in Budgam and is alleged to have indulged in extortion for which he was sent back to the police lines.

His proper rehabilitation began in 2015 by the then Director General of Police K Rajendra, who posted him in district headquarters of Shopian and Pulwama, the officials said.

However, after some alleged wrongdoing during his stint in Pulwama, the then Director General of Police S P Vaid transferred him in August 2018 to the sensitive Anti-Hijacking Unit in Srinagar, though the move was opposed by some other officers.

An advocate, Irfan Ahmad Mir, was driving the vehicle when they were caught by the police on National Highway in Kulgam district.

The advocate, who has also been arrested, had travelled to Pakistan five times on an Indian passport.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

Kanpur, Feb 20: Inspector general, Kanpur range, has ordered a probe into a woman's allegation that the cops misbehaved with her at Raipurwa police station when she went there with her father to lodge a complaint of harassment and eve-teasing.

The woman posted her complaint on the Twitter handle of Kanpur police.

The woman, 21, alleged that instead of listening to her complaint, Raipurwa cops asked her, "Zyada padh gayi ho, itna advance kisne bana dia hai, tumhare Papa ne?" (You are too educated. Who made you so advanced - your father?)

She further said that instead of taking necessary action on her complaint, the police forced her father to compromise with the accused, the son of her landlord, who harassed her on Monday.

The woman also stated that there were no female cops at the police station and she had to wait for several hours.

"Throughout my presence at the police station, I had to interact with male cops," she tweeted.

Inspector, Raipurwa, Sunil Kumar, however, has denied allegations.

"Her allegations are not true. Both the parties settled the dispute on their own," he said.

IG Range, Mohit Agarwal, meanwhile, said, "I have asked the SSP to initiate a probe in this regard and take action against guilty cops."

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rose to 1024 in the country, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

"The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rise to 1024 in India including 901 active cases, 96 cured/discharged/migrated people and 27 deaths," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19, which has left thousands dead around the world.

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