The former finance minister, who walked out of jail on Wednesday night, joined other Congress MPs voicing their protest against the steep hike in onion prices.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
After questioning him for four hours in the morning, Chidambaram was taken to a special court in Delhi which sent him to CBI custody till Monday.
The focus of the Union Budget is on providing basic amenities to the poor, middle class and youth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, and asserted that it is imperative that India becomes self-reliant.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta has urged Finance Minister P Chidambaram to curb inflation.
Students across Tamil Nadu, including in Chennai, continued their protests on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue while some fishermen in Nagapattinam district observed a fast mid-sea.
The government on Tuesday said it will allow setting up of world-class foreign universities in Gandhinagar's GIFT City, free from domestic regulations, to facilitate availability of skilled manpower in the financial services space. In addition, an international arbitration centre will be set up in the GIFT City for timely settlement of disputes under international jurisprudence, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23. The centre could be on the lines of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, or the London Commercial Arbitration Centre.
Softening the demonetisation blow, the Budget for 2017-18 on Wednesday halved the tax to 5 per cent on incomes up to Rs 500,000 but proposed a new surcharge of 10 per cent on incomes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore and raised duties on cigarettes and pan masala while stepping up allocations for infrastructure, rural, agriculture and social sectors.
'Nirmalaji must consider herself a very lucky finance minister, partly because of the government's response to covid and partly because we as a nation have done very well as an economy, post pandemic.'
Market participants say the focus of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will be on fiscal deficit, more so in the wake of the recent debt crisis in some Europeon countries.
As a common citizen, I am concerned about the lowering of interest rate on bank deposits since most people who do not want to speculate are dependent only on the interest income, says Nalini Chidambaram.
The government on Monday said it was willing to discuss every issue under rules during the Budget session of Parliament and sought the support of the Opposition in running the proceedings smoothly.
Pranab Mukherjee is likely to be advised on crucial issues by Omita Paul once he moves into Rashtrapati Bhawan, writes Santosh Tiwari.
She posed for the traditional 'briefcase' picture outside her office along with her team of officials before heading to meet the President. She, however, was holding a tablet instead of a briefcase to present the Budget in a digital format.
The government's programmes should be expected to generate some momentum, but the macro-economic numbers are not encouraging, observes T N Ninan.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said treaties had been signed with a total 37 countries to know the details of money stashed abroad by Indians.
However, he pointed out that the manner in which Smriti Irani was taking the name of President in the House was not proper and in consonance with the status and position of the President.
'The central government can stop further destruction... if they have the political will to do so.'
Five months since her conviction by a Karnataka court and being forced to step down as Tamil Nadu CM, Jayalalithaa has not been out of her house. However, she continues to run the Tamil Nadu government with the help of a few retired bureaucrats reports R Ramasubramanian.
Employees and workers will meet on November 27 to protest against the recommendations
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday sought to downplay the battle of attrition between Indian Army chief General V K Singh and the government.
This is the first time that the 73-year-old former finance and home minister is being grilled by the ED in this case.
'But we are much better than what we all had expected and planned, and what all the prophets of doom had predicted.'
Political temperatures were soaring in several states that could see close contests, with parties trying to keep their flock together and trading accusations of poaching of MLAs.
'It is commendable that India is able to persuade all sides.' 'It shows that India counts and finally, we are reaching a position where we can find a place in the sun at the global level.'
Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the energy portfolio, held a meeting with trade union representatives and later said the government had no intention to privatise state-run power utilities.
"He has already apologised," Sonia Gandhi responded to the media on party's Adhir Chowdhury's 'rashtrapatni' remark.
The ban has been in force since last Friday.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet the leaders of the opposition parties again on Monday morning in his bid to break the impasse between the government and the opposition parties that has disrupted functioning of both houses of Parliament since the session began on November 9.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said they will pose three questions a day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
'If the museum in his memory inspires and instils among Brahminical British Indians an attitude of equality towards Dalits, the edifice would be worth it,' reports Ashis Ray.
What some of our leaders were up to on the weekend.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday rebutted the Opposition's charge that the Bharatiya Janata Party too shared the responsibility for the failure to check the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 as it was supporting the then V P Singh-led government at the Centre.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's mother Lakshmi Palaniappan died on Friday. She was 92, her family said.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
'Looking at the speed at which changes were made post the Franklin Templeton issue, we are awaiting more stricter norms in the months to come.'
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