Financial year changed to January to December - Is the Union Budget being advanced to November 2017?
Why is the Monsoon session of Parliament not being summoned? Usually, in June of each year, the official announcement is made. Speculation within the babudom is that the delay is due to the change of the financial year.
Even the Union Cabinet sub-committee on Parliamentary Affairs - which recommends the dates to the President of India has deferred the decision of convening Parliament on July 18. Officially, this is so that Members of Parliament can vote for the Presidential elections inside the parliament house.
But gossip among the IAS and IRS is that PM Modi is keen to have 'January to December' as the financial year. Modi wants to implement this from 2018.
If Modi implements this, it will not only be another feather in the cap of the BJP Government but will cause the advancement of Union Budget to the second half of November 2017. In his 2017 Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that change of months of the financial year.
Since then a flurry of activity in the highest echeleons of the bureaucracy has been seen. The financial wizard Shankar Acharya, who headed the four-member committee that suggested the change of financial year, has submitted his report.
Now it's up to the Prime Minister to take a call on this.
Is the Kovind move a sign of things to come?
The BJP office in New Delhi was full of jubilation and the distribution of ladoos when 'breaking news' flashed on TV about Nitish Kumar giving his support for the BJP's candidate, Ramnath Kovind, for the Presidential polls.
Insiders from the BJP say that Amit Shah had long ago hinted that the selection would please Nitish Kumar. Sources say Arun Jaitley had already spoken to Nitish Kumar on the matter, and he had fallen in line. Therefore the breaking news was not a surprise to a few top leaders of the BJP, including Narendra Modi.
Those who are privy to such telephone conversations are now sharing the gist of that Jaitley-Kumar phone conversation.
- Whatever is said and done, there is a break in the alliance between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.
- Will Nitish Kumar continue as Chief Minister of Bihar with BJP support?
- How will the JDU and RJD alliance break?
- Is all of this a hint for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls - where the BJP and the JDU will go together?
Nominations galore, but little logic in Indian Presidential polls
If you want some politically inclined amusement in New Delhi, the right place to sit nowadays is with Anoop Mishra - the Chief Returning Officer of the Presidential Elections.
Anoop Mishra is the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, and he collects the nominations for the post of President of India.
Until the noon of 21 June, 22 common citizens have submitted their nomination forms, while 88 have picked up nomination forms for the Presidential poll - so far. And that is no minor matte, mind you. The fee for a form is a whopping Rs 15,000.
One couple met him and paid Rs 30,000 to obtain two forms. Anoop Mishra offered them a seat and some snacks. During the conversation, the husband said that if he was elected President, his wife would contest for the Vice President's post. Mishra, being a career bureaucrat, merely nodded his head.
Another hopeful was from South India, and he went on to say that the imposition of Hindi would be stopped if he was elected as President of India.
A Sardar also took a nomination form. While getting it, he commented that he would shift the capital of India to Amritsar.
As a courtesy, Anoop Mishra has arranged two officials of Lok Sabha to help applicants file their nominations. These 22 have to wait for a week, until June 29, 2017. Then, they will not only be rejected - as they do not have the required 50 proposers and 50 seconders - but also get back the Rs 15000 paid as nomination fees.
Meanwhile, the SPG advance team went to the Secretary General office to make security arrangments for the Prime Minister to visit Anoop's Mishra office on 23 June, 2017.
PM Modi will be submitting Ramnath Kovind's nomination papers, alongwith 12 Union Cabinet Ministers and 15 Chief Ministers.
(R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist based in Delhi. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of Asianet Newsable.)
