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 finance minister could not take the oath earlier in Parliament due to his ill-health.
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.
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.
PM's new vigour should revive investment - but may not return India to nine per cent growth.
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.
The meeting lasted for about 20 minutes but deliberations of the meeting could not be known immediately.
FinMin has already sought inputs from different central ministries for the Budget speech, which would be the last Budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 general polls.
Among the panels announced on Thursday is the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to be headed by the prime minister with Shah as the other member.
All FIPB records will now be digitised; old and unnecessary files will be weeded out
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.
There are serious issues in the economy which need to be addressed
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.
The RBI is understood to be dithering since it would want more clarity on the cost of the fiscal policies the new government would undertake before it decides to cut rates, even though it has pencilled in a lower gross domestic product growth rate for this fiscal year.
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.
It would be difficult to stick to the Budget numbers unless the departments are reined in their expenditure plans.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
It is unclear if he would be renamed the finance minister soon after his return.
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.
The process has been suspended for the time being as Agriculture, Food & Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar, a political heavyweight, is opposed to any intrusion into his turf.
The real battle is between NSE's Ravi Narain and FT's Jignesh Shah.
There could be multiple measures announced in quick succession, not only by the finance minister but also other ministers regarding their respective sectors, and by the Reserve Bank of India. The total size of these announcements could rival that of other G-20 nations as a percentage of GDP.
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.
Nine MLAs and an MP from Andhra Pradesh are among 21 protestors taken into preventive custody on Tuesday when about 100 activists gathered at high-security North Block violating prohibitory orders, as a meeting on Telengana issue was being held in the home ministry.
The need of the hour is for India to connect with Kashmiris, emotionally connect with them. To listen to their woes, to their horror stories, to the repeated humiliations.
