Periscope: Modi's review roster, Prince Charles to visit India, and more

Modi’s review roster

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting of his council of ministers in a kind of stock-taking on November 10. This will be the first meeting of the full council of ministers after the reshuffle earlier this year. In August 2016, Modi had conducted another such exercise.

 

The royal realm

 

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Charles and wife Camilla, will visit India on November 8 and 9 to take stock of the work done by the charities that Prince Charles is associated with. During their visit, the royal couple will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and will also pay homage to Indian soldiers killed during World War I. During the meeting with Modi, Charles is expected to reiterate an invitation extended to him to attend the Commonwealth Summit in London next year. The British couple, who began their tour in Singapore on October 31, will also visit Malaysia before coming to India, the last leg of their swing through Asia.

 

Seeds of future

 

President Ram Nath Kovind will be in Patna on November 9 to inaugurate the third phase of the Nitish Kumar-led government’s agriculture road map (2017-22). This will be Kovind’s first visit to the state after being elected as President of India in July. Prior to his election, Kovind was the governor of Bihar. The first phase of the agriculture road map was launched in 2008 to bring a rainbow revolution. The second phase was launched by former president Pranab Mukherjee on October 3, 2012. Funds worth Rs 1.49 lakh crore were spent on the execution of the second phase of agriculture road map. Rs 1.54 lakh crore has been allocated for the third phase, where the emphasis is on organic farming.

 

 

Cong's disaster control

 

The Congress will fan out countrywide to observe the failure of demonetisation, on its first anniversary on November 8. "The decision of demonetisation was an out-and-out disaster. The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is yet not able to understand the pain of the nation," the party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said after a meeting of party general secretaries.  He also slammed the Centre's "faulty planning" of the goods and services tax (GST) structure. Demonetisation was the first torpedo which the country survived, but the second torpedo in the form of the GST destroyed it, he says. Accusing PM Modi of failing to understand the pain of the common people, Gandhi wondered why the NDA government was celebrating the anniversary of note ban.