It is a race against time for the United Progressive Alliance-II (UPA) government. All big pending decisions by all ministries are likely to be closed within the next three weeks, reports CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan.
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The agenda is fairly simple, this is the last lap as far as this government is concerned and hence there is a sense of urgency of wanting to get everything that they can possibly get done over the next three weeks because that is when the parliament session will kick off and then it will be time for vote on account. So it is going to be very difficult for the government to take any big ticket decisions.
Essentially all revenue mobilization decisions - like HZL Balco where we saw law ministry’s opinion coming in, giving the go ahead as far as stake sell is concerned, also things like notifying the gas policy etc. Those pending decisions will perhaps be pushed through or at least the attempt will be to get them done.
Also other foreign direct investment (FDI) related proposals perhaps will also be passed through. There has been a lot of talk on whether any more retailers are likely to put forth their applications to enter India. The finance minister had said there is a second retailer after TESCO that is interested in making its application to the Indian government.
But net-net, sources say over the next three weeks, ministries have been asked to outline and very clearly articulate their deliverables. The Prime Ministers’ Office (PMO) is going to be taking stock of those key deliverables and come January 17, post the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting, there is going to be a massive information campaign that is going to be launched by the UPA-II clearly articulating the achievements of the UPA, not just in its second tenure but more importantly in its first tenure.
The emphasis is going go be on articulating how this government over the last seven out of the ten years has been able to deliver on more than 8 percent growth and they have been able to push through things like right to information, right to food, right to education, right to employment etc.
Sources also say the Congress party is in the process of putting together a core team that is going to be supporting Rahul Gandhi. There is likely to be a young set of representatives from the Congress party including some Congress ministers that will form this core group that will spearhead the Congress campaign along with Rahul Gandhi. Priyanka Gandhi is also at this point in time managing the Congress campaign, in managing Rahul Gandhi’s campaign.
So some action, some fanatic activity is expected on the part of the government to try and get whatever it possibly can get done over the next three weeks. Also there could be an emphasis on infrastructure projects, or at least the intent for this government to spell out what it can do if it were to come back to power because that is believed to be the only way to sell the idea of job creation and to sell the idea of more than 10 percent growth.
So whether or not there will be specific announcements coming over the next three weeks or will they form a part of the Congress manifesto when it is finally released is a question mark but there is likely to be a big ticket emphasis as far as infrastructure is concerned as well.
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