Communist Party of India (CPI) veteran and former two-term MP from Andhra Pradesh Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, 70, was on Saturday named the party’s new general secretary, replacing A.B. Bardhan, 87, at the party’s 21st congress here.
Mr Reddy, who had been the CPI deputy general secretary since 2007, was unanimously elected to the top post, becoming the second Telugu leader at the CPI’s national helm in 25 years after Chandra Rajeswara Rao. The party turned down a proposal for an amendment in its constitution to create the post of a chairman or president reportedly to honour Mr Bardhan by making him occupy it. The deputy general secretary’s post was left vacant even as the party named members of its three national bodies.
In a brief five-minute address after he took over, Mr Reddy vowed to revitalise the party by widening its struggles on people’s issues, strengthening it in the Hindi-speaking states.
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Nrega reforms effective from today: jairam
AGE Correspondent
New Delhi, March 31
Planning Commission member Mihir Shah-headed committee’s report on reforms in the MNREGA will be operational from Sunday.
Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had said that the recommendations will be effective from April 1, which broadly seek to address the concerns of the ministry of agriculture over lack of farm labour during the peak seasons. Mr Ramesh had stated that the report once operationalised would help in improving the agricultural productivity. The report recommended 28 out of 30 new categories of works related to agricultural sector.
“The new avatar of the MNREGA will help in improving agricultural productions. The report seeks to exploit the synergy between the MNREGA and agriculture. Among the new work categories, which we seek to include in the flagship scheme are paddy cultivation, fisheries, spring-shed developments and fish dry land yards,” Mr Shah said after submitting the report to the ministry of rural development.