Giving details about the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in his book, the former deputy prime minister wrote: 'I was sitting in my office on a cold Friday afternoon on December 24,1999, when Shyamal Dutta, former director of Intelligence Bureau called me to convey the bad news. 'Sir, an Indian Airlines plane coming from Nepal has been hijacked'. I was stunned by what I heard.'
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh presents an interim Budget on Tuesday amidst mounting pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party to hike income tax exemption limit to Rs 100,000 and to merge 50% of DA with basic pay of government employees.
Unfazed by the rising inflation at over 6.0 per cent, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said on Wednesday that the government was confident it would be contained at 4-4.5 per cent annual average by March end, as projected by the Reserve Bank of India.\n\n
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh made a demand for a probe by a House Committee into the Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) fraud.
The two countries to resume a composite dialogue next month to resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Friday concluded his four-day visit to Moscow leaving for home without meeting with President Vladimir Putin. He is the second senior Indian minister to have visited Moscow in one week who the president hasn't met, the other being External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has said the Indian economy is sturdy enough to face any challenge thrown up by the Iraq war.\n\n\n\n
CEC gives views on Chawla debacle
A Bill to restrict voting rights of brokers as shareholders and their participation on governing boards of stock exchanges was on Monday passed in Lok Sabha without discussion and by a voice vote.
The government cleared 15 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 70.1 crore (Rs 701 million) including that of Honda Motor, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Fijitsu, Atlanta Electricals and Marubeni Corporation.
Goverment on Wednesday hinted at a feel good factor for the average households in the forthcoming budget saying there should be food for the hungry and money in the purse of housewives.
