Here are some facts related to the Budget presentation in independent India.
Gauba took chargeafter incumbent Rajiv Mehrishi retired from service.
The Union Budget 2025-26 on Saturday allocated Rs 2,33,210.68 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs with the majority of the fund -- Rs 1,60,391.06 crore -- being given to central police forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which are responsible for internal security, border guarding and security of vital installations.
'The larger and more opaque this shadow economy becomes, especially online, the greater the risk to India's national security.'
At a time when Sushma Swaraj is under fierce opposition attack for "helping" Lalit Modi obtain United Kingdom travel documents, her external affairs ministry has refused to provide any information about the passport issue involving the scandal-tainted former Indian Premier League boss.
The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a PIL alleging that Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu awarded government contracts to his family members. The court has asked the state government to provide details of the beneficiaries and inform if due process was followed. The bench also sought responses from union ministries of home affairs, finance and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the issue within five weeks.
Sheikh Hasina was on Thursday sworn in as the prime minister of Bangladesh for the fifth term, days after her Awami League won an overwhelming majority in the general elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
P Chidambaram was on Tuesday made the finance minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a minor reshuffle in portfolios in the Union Cabinet, necessitated by the exit of Pranab Mukherjee in June. According to the announcement, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is the new home minister in place of Chidambaram.
At a time when scam-tainted politicians, bureaucrats and corporate honchos are lodged in jails due to their alleged involvement in massive scams, the finance ministry has shot down a proposal on prison reforms, claiming it has no money to spare.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 will present a record eighth consecutive budget that is expected to contain measures to shore up weakening economic growth and ease the burden on the middle class struggling with high prices and stagnant wage growth while being fiscally prudent.
The swindled amount is nearly half of WazirX's total assets.
The government is looking to give Bharat Global Ports a certain amount of domestic exposure after it set up the state-owned consortium to increase India's global maritime heft, officials aware of the development said. The intended domestic exposure is meant to give the consortium experience and build its credentials for international projects.
The 28 new ministers who joined the Chouhan cabinet on July 2 include 20 of cabinet rank and eight ministers of state.
In a circular, the home ministry said the revised cash management system, formulated by the ministry of finance, has to be followed in view of the changes in tax receipt under the GST regime.
Over the past six months Rajasthan has introduced some of India's most radical free-market labour, land and welfare reform.
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Forty-five specialists will soon be joining key posts of joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries in different central ministries as part of the Modi government's ambitious plan to infuse fresh talent to further improve ease of governance.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who will present his maiden policy on September 20, held discussions on Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the macro-economic situation.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
The Indian government has announced new rules for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving foreign contributions under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). These rules include requiring NGOs to obtain a "Not a Newspaper" certificate from the Registrar of Newspapers for India if they engage in publication-related activities, as well as submitting financial statements and audit reports for the past three years. Additionally, NGOs must submit a commitment letter from the donor, a project report detailing proposed expenses, and a declaration that administrative expenses will not exceed 20% of the foreign contribution.
Kant, a retired 1980-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Kerala cadre, was appointed as India's G20 Sherpa in July 2022, months before India assumed the G20 Presidency.
A 14-member council of ministers was sworn in Patna by Governor Phagu Chauhan on Monday and the BJP bagged seven berths.
A slew of economic indicators in the current fiscal threatens to sully P Chidambaram's record as FM.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday took potshots at the elevation of Sushil Kumar Shinde to the home ministry from power soon after the multiple electricity grid failure and said P Chidambaram should not have been given finance portfolio because of the Aircel-Maxis deal controversy.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
"I was disinclined" to move to the Home Ministry but in a situation like this, "I answered to the call of duty", P Chidambaram said on Monday on his portfolio being changed from Finance Minister to Home Minister.
The first Budget of Independent India was presented by R K Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was given the finance and planning portfolio on Friday, nearly two weeks after he broke away from the original party and took oath as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday maintained that he will speak, if necessary, on the finance ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation issue only after talking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.
States are mandated to develop and implement 'heat HAPs' for prevention of heat-induced diseases. But most do not go beyond standard advisory on heat prevention.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
SBI's home loans, which offer a lower interest rate in the initial years and rate increases in the later years, were termed teaser loans by the Reserve Bank of India.
With the fall of Congress, Chidambaram's political graph too started moving southwards.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A G Ganguly asked the CBI to apprise it of their findings on March 15.
Jaitley, who was the finance minister before a medical procedure led to the charge being temporarily taken away from him, missed presenting the sixth and final Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the general elections. In his absence, the charge of the ministry was given to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
Shaktikanta Das will demit the office on Tuesday after completing six years as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra will replace him as the 26th Governor. He was appointed as the Governor on December 12, 2018, after the abrupt exit of Urjit Patel.
According to recent finance ministry data that captures the performance of public sector banks, instances of home loan defaults contributing to gross non-performing assets was the highest in the category of loans up to Rs 200,000.
The sources claimed that one of those arrested is believed to be Arsh Dalla, who is associated with the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and ran terror modules on behalf of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist who was killed in June last year.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term.
Journalist and author Chitra Subramaniam has demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) make public its findings from the "box of evidence" received from Switzerland regarding the Bofors payoffs. Subramaniam, author of 'Boforsgate: A Journalist's Pursuit of Truth', expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the evidence, questioning who opened the box, when it was opened, and what it contained. She also raised doubts about the official narrative regarding the alleged bribe in the Bofors case, suggesting the sum of Rs 64 crore may not reflect the full extent of the corruption. Subramaniam also alleged that the CBI planted stories about Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan to derail the investigation and launched a political vendetta against the Bachchans. She recalled that Bachchan had come to her home and asked if she had seen his name. The CBI has recently requested assistance from the United States in the case, seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who claims to have crucial details about the scandal. The Bofors scandal, a major bribery case involving the Indian government and the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors in the 1980s, pertains to allegations of a Rs 64-crore bribe in a Rs 1,437-crore deal for the supply of 400 155mm field Howitzers.
