Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh had staunchly defended the nearly four-fold India-UAE bilateral entitlement hike on the grounds that it would bring in badly-needed FDI into India from cash-rich Abu Dhabi and benefit Indian passengers respectively.
Commerce minister Anand Sharma had also maintained that Abu Dhabi has one of the largest “sovereign wealth funds” in the world and that it is in India’s interests to attract these funds to India. The commerce minister — who was supported in this by both the finance and external affairs ministers — had said an enhancement in entitlements would be helpful in creating a favourable sentiment towards India in Abu Dhabi.
Perhaps, it was these factors that led to the approval being accorded by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had earlier formally made public the series of events that made it clear that the Prime Minister along with other senior ministers had given the “in-principle” approval that paved the way for India to agree to the astronomical India-UAE bilateral entitlement-hike.
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Stir over coal files, fuel hike
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, Sept. 3
Uproar over the missing coal block allocation files and the recent hike in fuel and onion prices led to repeated adjournments of the Lok Sabha during the pre-lunch session.
In view of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s trip to St. Petersburg for the G-20 summit on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj demanded that Dr Singh give an explanation to the House on Tuesday. She said, “Today is the only day left for the Prime Minister to speak. The parliamentary affairs minister had assured us that the coal minister will reply and PM will intervene. The promise should be fulfilled today.” BJP members were on their feet shouting, “PM jawab do” and the TMC and Left members trooped into the well of the House demanding that the fuel hike be rolled back. They also protested against the hike in prices of onions.
TDP leader Nama Nageshwar Rao rushed into the well of the House raising the issue of privilege notice given by him against Congress members Sandeep Dikshit and Madhu Yakshi Goud for allegedly threatening TDP members. Congress member Ponnam Prabhakar, too, had given a privilege notice against some TDP members for using unparliamentary language. Speaker Meira Kumar said that both the notices are under her consideration.
In the midst of unruly scenes, Mrs Kumar adjourned the House till noon. Then M. Thambidurai, who was in the Chair, adjourned the House for thirty minutes, as there was no let up in the atmosphere. And again at 12:30, members were unrelenting and the Chair was forced to adjourn the House till 2 pm.