Nearly half of Delhi MPs are ministers in UPA government

September 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has asked her ministers and Congress lawmakers to voluntarily take 20 per cent less salary. Dikshit is said to have issued a letter to all ministers and Congress MLAs asking them to follow the decision of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and party president Sonia Gandhi in practising austerity.

September 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Wednesday issued an advisory proposing a 20 percent salary cut for state ministers and legislators. "I call for 20 percent salary cuts of all Delhi ministers and legislative members as an effort to save money," Dikshit told reporters here.

September 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a decision of considerable significance for the citizens of Delhi, the central government has in principle agreed to put the poorly-run Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) under the control of the state government, a home ministry official said. The civic body, which is controlled by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, is currently under the union government and is run by the home ministry.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Half a dozen former chief ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet have been given important portfolios with Ghulam Nabi Azad being made the health minister. Former Karnataka chief minister M.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who opted out of government in order to work to strengthen the party, Thursday said his imprint on the new United Progressive Alliance government's 79-member council of ministers was in the form of young ministers. I believe in doing one job and doing it well.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that his Council of Ministers represented experience as well as youthful energy and talent. Prime Minister Dr.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The key challenge before the new government is to bridge the rural-urban gap, new Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said Thursday night. The key challenge is to bring rural India to the mainstream, Scindia said soon after the portfolios of the new ministers were announced by the Prime Minister's Office.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Having a degree in law can apparently improve one's chances of getting a ministerial berth as nearly half of the cabinet members have studied the subject. Of the 33 cabinet ministers named by Wednesday, 15 hold a degree in law.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Almost 50 years divide the oldest and the youngest member of Manmohan Singh's new council of ministers that took shape Wednesday. The average age of the 78-member council is 57.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Thirty-eight ministers, including 14 cabinet ministers, will be sworn in Thursday morning in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's council of ministers. These include seven ministers with independent charge.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expands his council of ministers Thursday, adding 14 cabinet ministers, including three former chief ministers and three DMK leaders, and 45 ministers of state. Of the ministers of state, seven will have independent charge.

May 23rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said she would take charge of the railway ministry only after six more MPs of her party are sworn in and her party's ministers would spend five days a week in West Bengal. "We have to stand by the people.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The morning after taking oath for his second consecutive term, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday called a meeting of the new cabinet at his residence here. The meeting is basically to decide the dates for parliament sessions and when to present the budget, said an official at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

May 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be sworn in for a second term along with 19 other ministers, including Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Friday evening, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has announced.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram will individually visit the northeastern states for a focused study of their security concerns since these can't be clubbed together, he said Tuesday.