Now, UPA Cabinet hour on AIR

Close on the heels of Manmohan Singh’s critical report card rating the progress made in the last year, the ministers are expected to come out clear on their ministries’ performance. Some of the ministries which faced flak were those of Agriculture, Home, HRD, Social Justice and Empowerment, Power and Finance.

With the Prime Minister keen to push the pace for progress, the ministers will also be expected to broadcast the achievements to the end user — the aam admi.

Announced last year by the UPA, the news services division of AIR was directed to line up ministers for their comments on the progress on CMP. Though the programmes are in Hindi, for ministers from the south an exception is being made. ‘‘Their interviews will be conducted in English and translated in Hindi,’’ officials said. The 30-minute daily programme will be broadcast at 8 pm and repeated the morning after.

Information officers attached to the Ministries of Finance, Home, Defence, External Affairs, Education, Commerce and Industry, Railways, Power, Agriculture, Health, Telecommunications, Environment, Women and Child Welfare, Tribal Welfare, Sports, Water Resources, Urban Development, Surface Transport, I&B, Culture and Panchayati Raj, have been asked to coordinate with the news division to facilitate the interviews.

Left won’t attend UPA anniversary

: Left party leaders on Saturday said they would not attend tomorrow’s function to mark the completion of one year of the upa in office, even as the PMO extended a formal invitation. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI national secretary D. Raja and RSP’s Abani Roy said they had taken a decision not to attend the function. “After all, we are not part of the upa and are extending support to the government from outside,” Raja said. Left sources said while the UPA wanted to highlight their achievements, the Left felt the people-oriented objectives in the CMP were yet to be implemented.