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New Delhi:
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reshuffled his cabinet,
the recast team got down to business with many of them flagging
their priorities in the media glare and holding introductory
meetings with officials.
With the monsoon session of parliament beginning August 1, some
ministers also spelt out their legislative agenda, including bills
relating to land acquisition and creation of a Lokpal (ombudsman).
While two cabinet ministers - Rural Development Minister Jairam
Ramesh and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi - got down to their
newly assigned duties Tuesday within hours of the swearing in
ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, most others assumed charge
Wednesday.
Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, whose portfolio
has been changed twice in about six months, is yet to take charge
of his new assignment.
Sources said Minister of State (Independent Charge) Srikant Jena,
who was expecting an elevation to cabinet rank, had not yet
assumed charge of his responsibility in the statistics and
programme implementation ministry.
Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh also did not assume
charge of his new responsibility Wednesday.
Gurdas Kamat had quit the council of ministers Tuesday after he
was given charge of newly created Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation.
Ramesh, who gave a new profile to the environment ministry by his
deep personal involvement in its work, set the pace of work in the
rural development ministry.
He held meetings that stretched past midnight Tuesday and
continued his meetings with officials of his new ministry
Wednesday.
Ramesh told mediapersons that the land acquisition bill will be
priority of his ministry.
"We will soon put out a draft Bill for public debate by middle of
next week," he said.
Salman Khurshid, who assumed charge as law minister Wednesday,
listed farmers' land acquisition and anti-corruption Lokpal bill
as his top priorities.
He also listed bills ensuring food security, curbing communal
violence and judicial accountability as being important for the
government.
Khurshid said he would soon take a decision on resignation of
Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam who is upset after
Communications Minister Kapil Sibal substituted him with another
counsel in the 2G scam case.
M. Veerappa Moily, who was Tuesday shifted from law to corporate
affairs, said that passage of a new bill to replace the
55-year-old Companies Act and issues of corporate governance were
his top priorities.
Moily, who had Tuesday complained about the law ministry having
drawn flak for sins of administrative ministries, brushed aside
suggestions that he was unhappy.
"This ministry is not new to me. As law minister, I used to get
several references from this ministry," Moily said, in his first
comments after taking charge at his new office.
Jayanthi Natarajan, who assumed charge as Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests, said she will
give priority to environmental concerns.
Milind Deora, minister of state for communications and information
technology, said increasing the penetration of telephone services
in rural areas would be his first priority.
The minister denied he was a "replacement" for his father Murli
Deora, who was a minister before the reshuffle.
The ministers who took charge of their new responsibilities
Wednesday included Beni Prasad Verma (Steel), Pawan Kumar Bansal
(Water Resources), Paban Singh Ghatowar (Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region),
Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Minister of State for Health and Family
Welfare), Rajiv Shukla (Minister of State for Parliamentary
Affairs), Harish Rawat (Minister of State for Parliamentary
Affairs) and E. Ahamed (Minister of State for Human Resource
Development).
Dinesh Trivedi had Tuesday evening gone to Fatehpur to meet
victims of Kalka Mail accident in which at least 69 people were
killed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had Tuesday inducted eight new faces
in his ministry and promoted three of his colleagues. He dropped
seven ministers from his previous team.
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