There is much to look forward to in the run-up to the new year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 50-day limit of demonetisation pain will end on December 31. Some major announcements are expected on January 2 when he addresses a public meeting in Lucknow to mark the end of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Parivartan Yatra – the campaign rally for the Uttar Pradesh elections. Preparations for these announcements will be done this week. It is possible the PM will announce that people who have Jan Dhan accounts will receive a gift of some sort to mark the beginning of the new year to reward them for the difficulties they have faced.
As most officials have been told to stay in Delhi over the week, chances are that administrative work will proceed apace.
Search for Delhi’s next Lt Governor
The hunt for a successor to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, will begin this week. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy could count Jung’s scalp as the second, after he forced RBI governor Raghuram Rajan out of his job. In August, the MP had tweeted: “In my opinion, this LG of Delhi Mr Jung is unsuited for this high post. He is another 420 like Kejri. We need a Sangh person in Delhi.” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrwial gave Jung the benefit of the doubt when he said it was not Jung who was a bad man but the Prime Minister’s Office which kept interfering in his work.
Now that Jung is gone, a politically affiliated person is likely to be appointed. That process might come to an end in the new year with an announcement.
Prez to visit Hyderabad
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President Pranab Mukherjee is in Hyderabad for his South India sojourn, customary in the winter . He will attend a meeting of the Indian Economic Association at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University in Hyderabad on December 27. He will also participate in the ‘Aayutha Chandi Yagam’ to be performed by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at his farm house in neighbouring Medak district. The CM held a similar yagam earlier but a fire broke out in the venue and the President cancelled his plan to visit.
PM to meet economists
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet economists on Tuesday, December 27 to discuss the state of the economy. They will meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the first half of that day and spend the second half with the PM. This is the PM’s first meeting with economists after he announced that old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes would become pieces of paper.