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JAIPUR: Rajasthan, which saw the ruling Congress winning 20 out of the 25 seats from the state in the Lok Sabha elections, has been rewarded with one Cabinet Minister and three Ministers of State in the new Manmohan Singh Council of Ministers.

NEW DELHI: The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is expected to get a big boost during the second tenure of the United Progressive Alliance Government as a part of the immediate programme of generating new employment opportunities during the eleventh plan period. There are more than 12 million SMEs operating in the country, 55 per cent of which are in the rural sector.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) today agreed to set up Asia's first major multi-country Islamic infrastructure fund which is to be run according to sharia'h.

New Delhi: Scientists from Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have claimed that they have found 37 new animal species in India during their surveys in 2008.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is a remarkably bad loser. Long after its convincing defeat in 2004, it behaved as if the election had been stolen from it. Some BJP leaders really believed that but for the over-pitched “India Shining” campaign, the party would have romped home.

Considering that Meira Kumar's career as a politician has been no more than an average one, her sudden elevation to one of the topmost posts in the Republic can hardly be ascribed to either her talent or charisma.

Every crisis has a silver lining. So has the last week's upheaval in Punjab leading to imposition of curfew in many towns, a situation the state had not witnessed for years.

LUCKNOW: Shocked by the poor performance of her party in the Lok Sabha elections, BSP supremo and UP Chief Minister Mayawati has started purging party leaders and bureaucrats causing great resentment in the party.

When the UPA government swept back to power with enhanced strength, it was instantly claimed as an endorsement of the Prime Minister's reform package and his foreign policy. Hours after the results came out, the corporate honchos and business associations made fervent appeals to the PM to rush ahead with the unfinished reform agenda. Everyone thought the PM's first task will be to undertake what an obstructing Left had vetoed for most of his first term.

The UPA Government has been voted back to power at the Centre. But this by itself cannot be construed as popular sanction for unbridled rule of the Congress-led coalition.