Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row -- 5 annual Budgets and one interim -- a feat achieved so far only by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Desai, as Finance Minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964. The interim Budget 2024-25 to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1, will be a vote-on-account that will give the government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.
In the last 9 years, the BJP govt has marked some anniversaries and events with more zeal than Congress-led governments.
Among the impacted flights, Air India's flight AI 185 from the national capital to Vancouver that was to depart early in the morning was rescheduled.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
C Uday Bhaskar reviews Nixon, Indira and India: Politics and beyond by Kalyani Shankar.
Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was on Thursday conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi peace prize by President Pranab Mukherjee who said India will continue to support the African nation in its pursuit of stability and economic growth.
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
Equating the imposition of the Emergency with dacoity, he said, "Generally, dacoity is carried out around midnight. Similarly, this dacoity of democracy in the country also took place around midnight."
B S Raghavan, West Bengal's former chief secretary, worked with Indira Gandhi for many years. He remembers the late leader on her 25th death anniversary.
Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) leader Lalduhoma was sworn in as the chief minister of Mizoram on Friday.
Indira was one of the most outstanding political personalities that India ever produced, he says.
Pannun, the self-proclaimed general counsel of "unlawful association" SFJ, released the video messages on social media platforms on November 4.
"I apologise for the inconvenience", United States astronaut Neil Armstrong told Indira Gandhi when informed that the Indian prime minister had kept awake till 4:30 am to watch him land on the moon on July 20, 1969.
'Indira Gandhi was a great influence on Sonia Gandhi. Like her mother-in-law, Sonia is a very good listener. She dresses very much like her mother-in-law. She maintains her figure.' K Natwar Singh pays tribute to Indira Gandhi.
Modi spoke to the BJP's longest serving president, who is credited with crafting the party's rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and congratulated him.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday invoked her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi to send a message that but for the former prime minister's 'much reviled' bank nationalisation four decades back the country's financial institutions would have been hit by the current global economic crisis. "Every passing day bears out the wisdom of that decision (bank nationalisation in 1969)," Gandhi said in her address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday made it clear she would not change her decision to rename Indira Bhavan and reiterated her charge that its ally Congress was colluding with the Communist Party of India-Marxist to organise sit-ins and road blockades.
Designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has released a new video asking Sikhs not to fly in Air India aircraft after November 19, as their lives can be under threat.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
Taking exception to RSS chief K S Sudarshan's glowing remarks on Indira Gandhi, NDA convenor George Fernandes on Tuesday wrote to him saying that any appreciation of the late prime minister amounted to 'endorsing dictatorship'.
'Life has been full of rewards, full of sadness.'
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Assamese litterateur Indira Raisom Goswami, who had taken the initiative to bring the United Liberation Front of Asom to the negotiating table, on Tuesday passed away at a hospital in Guwahati after a prolonged illness. The condition of 69-year-old Goswami, who suffered a cerebral stroke in February, turned critical on Monday night and she was declared dead at 7:45 am, Guwahati Medical College Hospital Superintendent R Talukdar said.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
'In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy,' says Khushwant Singh.
The 'black paper', titled '10 saal anyay kaal' also alleged that issues such as rising prices, unemployment, subversion of institutions and farmers' 'distress' had plagued the country.
'They hate him so much that if PM Modi says the Sun rises in the east the Congress will say the Sun rises in the west.'
'Can any nation claim, guarantee that there will be no terror strike?'
A government-run hospital in Maharashtra's Nagpur has reported the death of 14 patients in 24 hours, while another state-run medical facility in the city has recorded nine fatalities during the same period, officials said on Wednesday.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday said he will attend the inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in January if he is invited to the programme.
Noted social worker Ela Ramesh Bhatt was on Monday conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development by President Pranab Mukherjee. Bhatt, the founder of Self-Employed Women's Association, was conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for 2011 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The young Indians wrestlers returning home from the U20 World championships was accorded a walk welcome in New Delhi.
"I will miss Mrs Indira Gandhi very much indeed," said a teary eyed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984 after laying a wreath on the body of the slain Indian premier with whom she became friends over the years.
For someone like me who studied Sam so intently, if a lump could form in the throat during the emotive scenes, I think the cast did a superb job, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Plabita shoots in Assam... Urmila relaxes in Goa... Shehnaaz explores the mountains...
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances