It would be difficult to stick to the Budget numbers unless the departments are reined in their expenditure plans.
As finance ministry officials remained glued to news flashes on the LCD screens in their rooms, others were constantly monitoring news on the web. The support staff got its share of the news feed by keeping a close watch on politicians visiting North Block, reports Vrishti Beniwal
The government of India is all set to sign a tripartite agreement next month with both the Dima Hasao Daogah factions, it is reliably learnt. The DHD (Nunisa) faction chief Dilip Nunisa along with some of his colleagues met the Joint Secretary (North East), Ministry Home Affairs, Shambhu Singh on Monday afternoon in the North Block and discussed in detail the terms and conditions of the draft agreement.
An exercise to reshuffle governors is underway in New Delhi. Decision makers have taken necessary clearance from the party leadership.
Pranab Mukherjee, who resigned as the Finance Minister on Tuesday to contest for the post of President as a Congress nominee, sought to justify some of his tough and contentious decisions saying that they were taken in the interest of people.
The governor had just made an elaborate presentation in defence of the central bank's decision to not to succumb to industry's demand for rate cuts in the mid-quarter policy.
"Soon I will not be a political entity," Pranab Mukherjee remarked hours before he resigns as finance minister to contest Presidential poll, but promised to deliver his "last message" before he bids adieu.
The governor had just made an elaborate presentation in defence of the central bank's decision to not to succumb to industry's demand for rate cuts in the mid-quarter policy.
Officials also said that sufficient steps have been taken to control air and noise pollution during the construction work for the new parliament building, which will have separate offices for all MPs and those will be equipped with the latest digital interfaces as a step towards creating 'paperless offices'.
It is unclear if he would be renamed the finance minister soon after his return.
PM's new vigour should revive investment - but may not return India to nine per cent growth.
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
There are serious issues in the economy which need to be addressed
While the signals of intent have already gone from North Block, the hiccups this time are coming from officials in the Finance Ministry, who had got used to a certain mindset.
All FIPB records will now be digitised; old and unnecessary files will be weeded out
Budget-makers in North Block are looking to maintain this fiscal status quo, in spite of tax revenues nowhere close to where the government wants and in spite of possible higher expenditure commitments.
North Block and Mint Road seem likely to now stick to the earlier convention of the RBI governor coming to Delhi and being the only MPC member meeting the finance minister and senior bureaucrats on pre-policy meetings
The meeting lasted for about 20 minutes but deliberations of the meeting could not be known immediately.
On the eve of the Supreme Court hearing of his petition on age, Army Chief Gen V K Singh on Thursday met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who has been informally acting as a trouble-shooter in the controversy.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com Gopalan replies back to the critics of the Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Thieves have struck at the ministry of external affairs adjoining the Prime Minister's Office in the high-security South Block in Delhi, decamping with the laptop and pen drive of a senior official, besides attempting to break into two rooms. The incident comes two months after the theft of a hard disk was reported from the home ministry in North Block. In November last year, a computer was stolen from the same room in the home ministry.
"You cannot have a lockdown of people, and a lockout of the economy. That is not the way to formulate policy. We are not criticising, we are only saying it is time to rethink, we will support the government in every possible way," said Kapil Sibal.
Senior New Delhi-based journalist R Rajagopalan, who has been closely following the Union Budget preparations since 1977, lifts the veil off India's most secretive operation.
Amid the raging row over the controversial 2G note, three ministers on Wednesday night met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence to find a way out to end the political storm.
Reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notwithstanding, North Block, the finance ministry headquarters, is going ahead with its plans to set up a full-fledged Debt Management Office (DMO) to manage the government debt.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has brought about a coup in North Block by bringing an Indian Foreign Service officer Venu Rajamoni as Joint Secretary to head multilateral institutions division.
Preparations for Budget 2011-12 are in full swing. Intelligence Bureau sleuths in plain clothes are watching each and every movement of the team which prepares the Budget documents.
Ashok Chawla outlined the key thrust areas of Budget 2011.
'The economy has to become the government's No. 1 priority, which it is not at the moment,' says T N Ninan.
The Madhya Pradesh directorate general of Hydrocarbons has granted Petroleum Exploration Licence to ADAG for exploration of CBM from Sohagpur (north) block in Shahdol district on August 11, official sources said in Bhopal on Thursday.
The finance ministry is working on a Cabinet note for establishing a full-fledged Public Debt Management Office, officials told Business Standard.
Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia on Wednesday met Central Bureau of Investigation's Director A P Singh and reportedly raised the issue of a lawyer allegedly threatening her.Radia, who has been questioned by the agency officials in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam, met Singh at his North Block office for nearly 20 minutes. During the meeting, she is said to have produced a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the CBI director.
The Union Home Ministry in North Block in New Delhi plans to install a surveillance system. With the introduction of biometric tracing system, every move the employee makes can be tacked.
The manner in which India has allowed the rule of law to be subverted for over eight years is tragic, notes former additional solicitor general of India Bishwajit Bhattacharyya.
Leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday met Home Minister P Chidambaram as they began face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam.
The posts of finance secretary and secretary, economic affairs department generate ambiguities over ownership of the finance ministry's most important annual exercise.
'The return of India to its own civilisational values can never endanger freedoms as pluralism is the bedrock of our culture,' assert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Empowerment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with extra territorial jurisdiction and declaration of Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim as terrorists after legislative amendment were counted among its achievements by the MHA, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
A group of Bhopal gas tragedy survivors staged a demonstration in front of the North Block office of Home Ministry where the meetings of Group of Ministers on the issue was taking place.
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