A four-member Congress (I) ministry, led by Lal Thanhawla, was installed in Mizoram. This is the first ministry the Congress (I) has formed on its own in the Union Territory. The Lt Governor, H S Dubey, administered the oath of office to Lal Thanhawla and his three colleagues.
Japan’s Aid to India
The Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuhiro Nakasone, said in New Delhi that his country would offer India a larger yen credit than last year. The credit would cover fertiliser and gas pipeline projects and thermal power plants. Nakasone also announced that Japan had agreed to provide grant-in-aid for education and equipment to Delhi University.
EEC Blames India
The European Economic Community has virtually blamed India for the stagnation in its exports to EEC markets. This happened when the leader of the 20-member EEC delegation, Ivor Richard, responded to the remarks of the Commerce Minister, V P Singh, at the third session of the Indo-EEC joint commission. He said that Indian exports had slipped even though there was no change in the conditions of access to Indian goods in the EEC markets.
Pranab on democracy
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Calcutta that though the country had a well established system of parliamentary democracy, there was no harm in having a debate at the national level on the feasibility of a presidential form of government. Mukherjee, however, did not favour the idea of regional democracy and denounced the existing regional parties. Mukherjee said that unlike its neighbours in south and Southeast Asia and other third world countries, where the failure of parliamentary democracy had brought in trial military or dictatorships India has a successful experiment with the parliamentary system.