On Saturday, Telangana was the buzzword in New Delhi with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Governor ESL Narasimhan flocking to the capital. But after a series of meetings held with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidamabram, a conclusive decision still eludes the issue.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh summoned Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan to New Delhi on Saturday to discuss the political situation in Andhra Pradesh, including the ongoing agitation on Telangana.
In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that the government is committed to the universalisation of the Integrated Child Development Services scheme in the country. Expressing grave concern at the low level of female literacy in the country, Mukherjee said the aim of the National Mission for Female Literacy would be to reduce the current level of female illiteracy by half in three years.
Pranab Mukherjee proposed the enhancement of the overall plan budget for higher education by Rs 2,000 crore over the Interim Budget estimates. He further announced the allocation of Rs 2,113 crore for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The finance minister also proposed to allocate Rs 827 crore for opening one central university in each uncovered state.
The Budget has increased the allocation for the Commonwealth Games from Rs 3,472 crore (Rs 34.72 billion) from Rs 2,112 crore (Rs 21.12 billion).
The decision to finance these districts for rapid improvement in schooling, health care and drinking water comes nine months after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee listed the drive in his Union Budget to ensure the poor and the tribals do not head to the Naxals for help.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal assures to begin the process of de-allocation of coal blocks against the errant companies from September 16 while strongly defending the government policy.
The finance ministry on Wednesday provided relief to the Rs 18,000-crore (Rs 180-billion) software industry by replacing a multi-level structure of tax deducted at source (TDS) on distributors with a single TDS. This would be deducted by the first distributor -- one who directly purchases packaged software from a developer.
As the finance ministry gives the final touches to the country's biggest financial planning exercise, there is widespread criticism over the government's inability to tackle inflation, bring back black money stashed overseas and keep fiscal deficit in check.
A day ahead of Mexican Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens' visit here to seek support for his candidature for the top IMF post, the Finance Ministry on Thursday said the decision on India's vote will be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Some persons with accounts in a Swiss bank have paid taxes amounting to about Rs 180 crore so far, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said in Parliament. He did not disclose any name.
The meeting of the GoM, according to sources, will be attended by several senior ministers, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telecommunication Minister Kapil Sibal.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee attributed the 4.78 per cent spurt in inflation in November to rising prices of food articles. "Inflation has risen high mainly because prices of food articles have gone up," Mukherjee said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday admitted the Reserve Bank of India's move to hike short-term lending and borrowing rates will hurt growth in the near-term, but exuded confidence that economic expansion will gather pace later as a consequence.
The main Opposition party suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee were not on the same page with regard to the retrospective amendment to tax laws against the backdrop of Vodafone case, leading to the current precarious situation.
Factory output growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, fell sharply to 1.8 per cent in December 2011, from 8.1 per cent a year ago, mainly on account of contraction in mining, capital goods and poor growth in manufacturing sector.
Highly-placed sources in the government say that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked Pranab to make the second statement, rolling back the Telangana announcement. However, Mukherjee is learnt to have the told her that the second statement should come from the person who made the first statement, for better credibility. He also advised the Congress president that the prime minister should be kept out of the picture.
A brief overview of North Bengal districts' constituencies
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night for consultations with United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday on the issue of the Presidential poll nominee of the UPA, amid intense speculation on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the post.
While Baba Ramdev walks the red carpet laid out by the government, we ask you our readers for your views on the issue.
Besides, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry secretary general Amit Mitra, L Suresh, vice president of Film Federation of India, UTV Group chief financial officer Rajeev Waghle, chief financial officer of Reliance Big Films Subhashish Sarkar and Zee Tele films chief executive officer Puneet Goenka, among others, were also part of the delegation.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi will not be attending the swearing-in of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal Chief Minister in Kolkata on Friday.
A new Lokpal Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and the existing one withdrawn.
Amid rupee's free fall and slowdown in western markets, the government is likely to announce incentives in the foreign trade policy (FTP), scheduled for June 5, to boost exports.
The issue of controversial cartoons in textbooks generated heat in the Lok Sabha with members demanding immediate action in the matter saying the sketch has hurt sentiments of a section of the society.
India's economic revival also depends on the government's capacity to push through some critical policy reforms in the coming months, says the Economic Survey 2008-09, which was\npresented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on Thursday.
The manual, released by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, details various aspects about the Budget, including the constitutional provisions, structure of government accounts and budget preparation.
In view of the severe drought and growing prices of essential commodities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a crisis management group of Ministers (GoM) for monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Economic Survey for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha.
The TERC, which comprises, among others Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, will also review the state of play in the Doha Round of talks for a multilateral trade agreement under the aegis of World Trade Organization, sources said.
Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said banks have positively responded to his suggestion to reduce credit interest\nrates.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will head the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the effective management of issues related to drought.
Hints at taking support from Opposition if allies continue to show reservations
The finance minister attributed the rising prices to demand-supply mismatch, depreciating rupee, global commodity prices and easy monetary policy followed by some countries.
Grappling with the situation arising out of Anna Hazare's fast, the government on Tuesday held hectic consultations to find a way out of the logjam with Team Anna demanding that it mandate somebody officially for opening a political dialogue on the Lokpal issue.
Once the tremors of Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav's political shock dies down, they will return for fresh negotiations with the Congress, notes Sheela Bhatt.
That was the compromise formula, said Mukherjee.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said food inflation, which stands at over 16 per cent, will begin to come down after the middle of next month on the back of good monsoon.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India would have to develop a rupee-denominated long-term bond market to help fund the infrastructure sector, which would require $459-500 billion by 2012.
This will be the last visit of Zoellick as President of World Bank as he is retiring on June 30.
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