File picture of Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday (January 6, 2025) said the government will soon take a decision on increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of sugar.

The MSP of sugar remains unchanged at ₹31 per kg, a rate established in February 2019. However, industry bodies have demanded for an increase due to rising production costs and economic pressures faced by sugar mills.

“There is a demand. The department is seized of the matter. We will take a decision whether to increase or not shortly,” Mr. Joshi told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.

Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) are pushing for an increase in the MSP to ₹39.14 per kg or even ₹42 per kg to better reflect production costs and support the financial health of sugar mills in India.

Image used for representational purpose.
| Photo Credit: PTI

As the price of chana dal (gram dal) continued to increase ahead of the upcoming festivities, the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry launched the second phase of retail sale of ‘Bharat Chana Dal’ in New Delhi on Wednesday (October 23, 2024).

The all India average price of gram dal was ₹94.67 per kg on Wednesday, while it was ₹82.58 per kg on the same day in 2023. Three lakh tonnes of chana, made available from the price stabilisation buffer stock, will be converted to ‘chana dal’ and ‘chana whole’ for retail sale to consumers at a price of ₹70 per kg and ₹58 per kg, respectively.

Union Consumer Affairs and Food Minister Pralhad Joshi inaugurated the sale by flagging off mobile vans of various cooperatives under the Union government. The Ministry said in a release that apart from chana, the government had also expanded the Bharat brand to moong and masur dals.

“The Bharat Moong Dal is retailed at ₹107 per kg, Bharat Moong Sabut (whole) at ₹93 per kg and Bharat Masur Dal at ₹89 per kg. The resumption of Bharat Chana Dal at this time will enhance the supplies to consumers of Delhi-NCR in this festive season,” the Ministry added. Mr. Joshi said direct interventions through retail sale of basic food items such as rice, atta, dal and onion have helped maintain a stable price regime.

Also read | Wholesale price rise at 4-month low of 1.3% in August

To augment domestic production and facilitate seamless import, the Centre has allowed duty free import of tur, urad, masur and chana till March 31, 2025, and yellow peas import till December 31, 2024. “Enhanced area coverage of Kharif pulses this year, together with continuous inflow of imports have led to declining trend in the prices of most pulses since July, 2024. The retail prices of Tur dal, Urad dal, Moong dal and Masur dal have either declined or remained stable during the past three months,” the Centre said.

New Delhi:

After media reports linked Union minister Pralhad Joshi to his brother Gopal Joshi, who has been arrested for allegedly cheating a former MLA’s wife of Rs 2 crore, the minister has clarified that the two have been separated for 32 years. 

Gopal Joshi, his son Ajay Joshi and a woman named Vijayalakshmi Joshi were charged by the Bengaluru Police in the cheating case filed by Sunita Chavan, wife of former Janata Dal (Secular) Nagthan MLA Devanand Phool Singh Chavan, who lost the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.

She alleged that Gopal Joshi cheated her of Rs 2 crore on the pretext of securing a BJP ticket for a member of her family to contest the Lok Sabha elections this year. She also alleged that Vijayalakshmi was introduced to her as Pralhad Joshi’s sister.

Gopal Joshi was arrested on Saturday. 

In a post on X, Pralhad Joshi, who holds the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New and Renewable Energy portfolios, said he had filed a civil suit in November 2013 in the City Civil Court, Bengaluru, stating that he and Gopal Joshi had been separated for 20 years at the time, making the period of their separation 32 years as of 2024. 

“In 2012, a Family Arraignment Deed (Vaivastha Pathra) was executed to specify that we do not constitute any joint family status or any joint transaction socially and financially,” the minister emphasised, adding that he had got a public caution notice issued in the newspapers in 2012.

Mr Joshi also said that he has only two brothers – a third had died in an accident – and no sister. “The mention of Vijayalakshmi Joshi as my sister is totally false,” he said. 

The minister also rubbished the allegation that the complainant Sunitha Chavan had visited his office with his estranged brother.

The Centre has decided to nudge banks to fund the renewable energy projects in the country.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

To help meet India’s ₹30 trillion funding requirements for installing 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is in talks with financial institutions, public and private sector banks, urging them to commit a portion of their loans to renewable energy projects.

At the forthcoming Re-Invest summit, scheduled in Gandhinagar next week, all major banks and financial institutions will be giving “shapath patra” (promissory notes) about their proposed loans or funding plans in the renewable energy sector, Pralhad Joshi, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, said at a press briefing on Wednesday (September 10, 2024). Such “shapath patra” would be given by developers, manufacturers and private equity investors, he added.

“We have not specified any targets but banks are expected to give firm commitments. Only with the participation of banks and industry can India hope to attract finance to facilitate the renewable energy sector,” said Mr. Joshi.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is scheduled to inaugurate the conference.

Also read:The challenges of renewable energy 

In a statement to the Rajya Sabha last year, R.K. Singh, former Renewable Energy Minister, said that the Reserve Bank of India had included bank loans up to a limit of ₹30 crore to borrowers for purposes like solar-based power generators, biomass-based power generators, windmills, micro-hydel plants and for renewable energy-based public utilities, under Priority Sector Lending classification. However, actual terms and conditions of the loans, including the requirement of collateral security, vary among different banks/financial institutions based on factors such as exposure of banks/institutions to the sector, creditworthiness of the borrower, and risk perception.

New Delhi:

Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pralhad Joshi will contest from the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka for a fifth straight term.

The Dharwad Lok Sabha Constituency has been a BJP stronghold since 1996. Previously held by Congress from 1980 to 1996, BJP’s Vijay Sankeshwar won the seat in 1996, breaking Congress’ winning streak. Since then, BJP has retained the seat, with Pralhad Joshi securing victory between 2004 and 2019.

Here are five facts about Pralhad Joshi:

1. Pralhad Joshi is currently the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and he also holds the portfolio of coal.
2. He was born on November 27, 1962, in Vijayapura, Karnataka, to Venkatesh Joshi and Malatibai. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from KS Arts College in Hubli. Mr Joshi was a businessman before joining politics.
3. Mr Joshi ventured into politics by leading movements such as hoisting the national flag at Idagah Maidan and the “Save Kashmir Movement” in Hubli from 1992 to 1994. This earned him recognition in the region, and later he became the president of BJP’s Dharwad district unit.
4. The four-time MP contested his first Lok Sabha election in 2004, winning the Dharwad constituency by defeating BS Patil of the Congress by 83,078 votes. In 2009, he won his second term by defeating Kannur Manjunath Channappa of Congress with 1,37,663 votes. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls he also retained the seat.
5. Pralhad Joshi also served as the State President of BJP Karnataka from 2014 to 2016.

New Delhi:

Releasing its second list of 72 names for the Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday, the BJP has fielded five Union ministers from various states, including Piyush Goyal, who is set to make his electoral debut. His colleagues on the list are Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur, Pralhad Joshi and Rao Inderjit Singh. 

Mr Goyal, who has been a three-time Rajya Sabha member, has been fielded from the Mumbai North seat, which has been held since 2014 by Gopal Shetty of the BJP. The minister – who holds the commerce and industry, textiles, and food and consumer affairs portfolios – joins health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, among others, who will be making their Lok Sabha debut. 

The decision is in line with the BJP’s strategy of making as many ministers as possible contest the Lok Sabha polls and win, instead of making their way into the Cabinet through the Rajya Sabha.

The choice of Nitin Gadkari as the candidate from Nagpur, seen as important also because it is home to the RSS headquarters, should not be surprising because the Road Transport And Highways Minister has been elected from the seat since 2014. Tongues had, however, begun to wag when Mr Gadkari’s name was not in the first list of 195 candidates released on March 2, which had featured other party heavyweights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had even asked the minister to join hands with the opposition if he was “being insulted” by the BJP. Mr Gadkari had, however, rejected the INDIA bloc leader’s invite and dubbed it “immature” and “ridiculous”.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur’s name is one of two released for the four seats of Himachal Pradesh. He will contest from Hamirpur, a constituency he has won since 2008 and was also held by his father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, before him. 

Keeping up its focus on the south – where the BJP needs to do well to get its tally up from the 303 Lok Sabha seats it won in 2019 to the 370 it wants this time – the party has fielded Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad in Karnataka. Mr Joshi has been the MP from Dharwad since 2009 and Karnataka had contributed 25 of the 29 seats the BJP had won from the southern states in 2019.

Rao Inderjit Singh, who is the minister of state with independent charge of the Ministry of Statistics and holds other portfolios as well, will contest from Gurgaon. He has held the seat since 2009. 

New Delhi:

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s nine-point letter on the special session of parliament has drawn an acerbic response from the government. Mrs Gandhi is perhaps “not aware of traditions,” wrote parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, asserting that the government discusses the agenda with the Opposition only after the session begins.

Mrs Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier today, amid a political uproar over the buzz on a change of the country’s name to Bharat.

Underscoring that no agenda has been announced for the special session of parliament starting September 18, she listed nine subjects and demanded discussion on them.

The list included Centre-state relationship, communalism, Manipur situation and border conflict with China.

With hours, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister responded.

“The session has been called following tradition. Perhaps you are not paying attention to tradition. Before calling the Parliament session, there is never any discussion with political parties, nor are the issues discussed. After the calling of the session by the President and before commencement of the session, there is a meeting of the leaders of all the parties in which the people rising in the Parliament are discussed. Issues and work are discussed.” the minister wrote.

The suspense over the agenda has triggered speculation on the country’s name change. The trigger was President Droupadi Murmu’s invite to G20 leaders where she has been described as “President of Bharat”. The next day, a document surfaced that saw PM Modi being described a “Prime Minister of Bharat”.

Today a post on X went viral that said Pakistan may lay claim to the name “India”.

“Pakistan may lay claim to the name “India” if India derecongnises it officially at UN level. –local media. Nationalists in Pakistan have long argued that Pakistan has rights to the name as it refers to the Indus region in Pakistan,” read the post shared by South Asia Index’s X handle.

Top sources, however, said the G-20 summit, to be held this weekend, will be the subject of the special session.

New Delhi:

The government has called for a “special session of Parliament” to be held from September 18 to 22, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi posted on X (formerly Twitter), adding, that there will be five sittings. “Amid Amrit Kaal, looking forward to having a fruitful discussion and debate in Parliament,” he said.

Government sources have, so far, been tight-lipped on possible agendas.

There is speculation the special session is being called to begin the process of shifting from the old to the new Parliament building. So, this session may begin in the old and end in the new. 

Also, it may not be a joint session of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to have fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/b3PIRngpOs

— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) August 31, 2023

Government sources have, though, also said the agenda is likely to include Amrit Kaal celebrations and India as a ‘developed nation’. There is no hint of any important bill that will be passed.

The timing of the special session is interesting, though, as it coincides with the mega opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A’s third meeting in Mumbai. The 28-party grouping has declared its intention to bring down the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in next year’s general election.

READ |INDIA Bloc Has Several Choices For PM Post, BJP Has One: Uddhav Thackeray

The special session will also take place amid several major developments, including India having just hosted the G20 Summit in Delhi; this will be in the national capital between September 8 and 10.

In addition, the session will also take place after the Supreme Court was told the government is open to the conduct of elections in Jammu and Kashmir. During the court’s hearing on multiple petitions challenging the government’s scrapping of Article 370 in J&K, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said the decision on when to hold elections in the former state lay in the hands of central and state poll bodies.

READ | Kapil Sibal, Centre’s Lawyer In Heated Argument During Article 370 Hearing

However, on a timeline for restoration of statehood to J&K – a question posed by the court on Wednesday, Mr Mehta said the government is “unable to give an exact time period for conversion”.

What Was The Last Parliament Session?

The last session of Parliament was the Monsoon Session, which began on July 20 and wrapped up on August 12; 23 bills were passed by the government on that occasion. The session was marked by several protests from the opposition on a number of issues, including the violence in Manipur and ruckus over the contentious Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Most significantly, the session also witnessed a dramatic, three-day-long debate on a ‘no confidence’ motion introduced by the Congress and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi ruling in Telangana.

READ | Monsoon Session Ends: Political Tone Set For 2024, Big Ticket Bills Passed

Several top leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, took on the government, for whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the fightback, setting the tone for the big Lok Sabha battle of 2024.