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Ministers return to jetsetting ways amid austerity brouhaha
Notwithstanding austerity measures proposed by the Government in view of the grave economic crisis being faced by the country, many senior Ministers and Congress leaders including Sharad Pawar, Mukul Wasnik, Janardan Dwivedi and Montek Singh Ahluwalia went abroad immediately after the Parliament session came to an end earlier this week.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is in Netherland to attend the International Cricket Council meeting due to which he could neither attend the Cabinet meeting on Thursday nor attend the E-GoM meet on Friday. However, NCP sources said that absence of Pawar should not be construed as a signal of the party protesting against the petrol price hike like other UPA alliance partners Trinamool Congress or DMK
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik and senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi left for Moscow on Thursday night to attend an international conference in the Russian capital, sources said. Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy has just come back from Turkmenistan to fight the political crisis arising from the widespread protest over steep hike of Rs 7.5 per litre petrol. However, he offered little consolation to the hapless middle class by ruling out any rollback of the hike. Even power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has gone abroad.
Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also just returned from his US sojourn to the sultry heat of the national capital. Ahluwalia’s 42 official foreign trips and 274 days overseas during a seven-year tenure between June 2004 and January 2011 have already created much controversy. His excursions have cost the exchequer Rs 2.34 crore per day, RTI queries have revealed.
All this indicate that the recent diktat by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee imposing fresh austerity measures to deal with the slowing GDP growth rate, declining value of rupee, growing fiscal deficit and double digit inflation is not being taken seriously by his ministerial colleagues.
One of the major austerity measures announced by the Government was curbing the foreign trips which are very popular, especially during the summer months., both among ministers and senior bureaucrats. Mukherjee had informed the Rajya Sabha that foreign trips will be curbed and if necessary the travel should be economy class instead of business class.
He had also announced a check on holding conferences in five-star hotels and a ban on purchase of new cars by departments, except those for Defence purposes.
Notwithstanding austerity measures proposed by the Government in view of the grave economic crisis being faced by the country, many senior Ministers and Congress leaders including Sharad Pawar, Mukul Wasnik, Janardan Dwivedi and Montek Singh Ahluwalia went abroad immediately after the Parliament session came to an end earlier this week.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is in Netherland to attend the International Cricket Council meeting due to which he could neither attend the Cabinet meeting on Thursday nor attend the E-GoM meet on Friday. However, NCP sources said that absence of Pawar should not be construed as a signal of the party protesting against the petrol price hike like other UPA alliance partners Trinamool Congress or DMK
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik and senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi left for Moscow on Thursday night to attend an international conference in the Russian capital, sources said. Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy has just come back from Turkmenistan to fight the political crisis arising from the widespread protest over steep hike of Rs 7.5 per litre petrol. However, he offered little consolation to the hapless middle class by ruling out any rollback of the hike. Even power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has gone abroad.
Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also just returned from his US sojourn to the sultry heat of the national capital. Ahluwalia’s 42 official foreign trips and 274 days overseas during a seven-year tenure between June 2004 and January 2011 have already created much controversy. His excursions have cost the exchequer Rs 2.34 crore per day, RTI queries have revealed.
All this indicate that the recent diktat by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee imposing fresh austerity measures to deal with the slowing GDP growth rate, declining value of rupee, growing fiscal deficit and double digit inflation is not being taken seriously by his ministerial colleagues.
One of the major austerity measures announced by the Government was curbing the foreign trips which are very popular, especially during the summer months., both among ministers and senior bureaucrats. Mukherjee had informed the Rajya Sabha that foreign trips will be curbed and if necessary the travel should be economy class instead of business class.
He had also announced a check on holding conferences in five-star hotels and a ban on purchase of new cars by departments, except those for Defence purposes.
