Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented his 5th Budget in Parliament on Friday.
The entire Opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha during the presentation of budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, dubbing it 'highly inflationary' as he partially rolled back the stimulus by hiking the ad velorum component of excise duty on large cars and multi-utility vehicles by two per cent to 22 per cent.
Information with security agencies also indicate the possibility of a nuclear installation being considered for strike by the LeT module, the defence minister said.
The meeting saw Opposition agreeing to undertake orderly behaviour in the House and in turn Chatterjee withdrawing the controversial reference of the MPs, mostly from the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance, to the Committee, sources said. An announcement on the issue is expected when the House reassembles at 14.00 hours. "Wait till two," the Speaker said, when reporters asked him about the outcome of the meeting.
With the new sugarcane pricing policy creating an uproar in Parliament, the Centre has invited leaders of all political parties for a breakfast meeting on Monday in a bid to hammer out a solution to the issue.
The Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry has been allocated Rs 1,121 crore (Rs 11.21 billion) in the annual budget for 2011-12, which is nearly one-third of last year's Rs 3,315.67 crore (Rs 33.15 billion).
The hike in service tax on air travel would be effective from April one. From then on, the tax on economy class domestic travel would stand at Rs 150 instead of the current Rs 100 and Rs 750, as against Rs 500, for international travel.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 26.
The Economic Survey tabled today in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, says that the whole sale price index (WPI) of food inflation rose to 13.6 per cent in December 2010 on account of unfavourable agricultural supply conditions coupled with the waning of base effects.
All components showed improvement with the exception of FDI and banking capital in the first half of 2010-11.
On the issue of an agreement with China for military exercises in the Indian Ocean, Mukherjee said India had not signed any such pact.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced a slew of concessions, including a 1 per cent interest subsidy for lower and middle income housing loans, and exempted road repair and maintenance services from the ambit of service tax.
The government on Monday allocated an increased sum of Rs 3073 crore for the Sports Ministry in the Union budget for fiscal 2009-10, and also proposed to sanction Rs 3472 crore for next year's Commonwealth Games. The budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been increased by Rs 1480 crore than what was proposed in the interim budget presented before the Lok Sabha elections.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) set up recently by the government, will establish an online data base with identity and biometric details of Indian residence and provide enrolment and verification services across the country.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that he has taken tremendous risk to return to higher growth rates by opting for higher deficit and hoped to achieve nine per cent growth next fiscal.
The government on Monday promised to come out with a framework for the Direct Taxes Code that will simplify tax structure within 45 days.
The Lok Sabha will apply guillotine on discussions on demands for grants by the third week so as to complete the entire budgetary process in Parliament by July 27.
'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.'
Transactions older than ten years cannot be probed under the Swiss laws and the Swiss authorities have informed in writing that facts of the Bofors case fell under the rule "lapse of time" and hence its regrets to offer any further help.
Pranab Mukherjee's speech was so boring that half of the Treasury benches were found napping. Newsmen peeped from the Press Gallery to see the mood of the MPs.
The National Investigation Agency, set up in the wake of audacious strikes in Mumbai, has been allocated Rs 10 crore for 2009-10.
The corpus of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), which is the main instrument of the government to channelise bank funds for financing rural infrastructure, has been increased from Rs 5,500 crore (Rs 55 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) for the year 2008-09 ensuring greater availability of funds for its activities.
While the plan allocation for agriculture has gone up by 300 percent between the period 2003-04 and 2008-09, the agriculture credit disbursement too has increased from Rs 87,000 crore (Rs 870 billion) to Rs 2,50,000 crore (Rs 2500 billion) up to 2007-08.
The presentation of the Interim General Budget for 2009-10 was on Monday interrupted briefly as the Lok Sabha adjourned after JD(S) member M P Veerendrakumar complained of uneasiness.
The party whose government presents the Interim Budget does not return to power.
Even before a clear picture of the alliances emerges for the April-May Lok Sabha elections, the political scene is hotting up with the parties going through poll pangs and problem of poaching that may accelerate in the days to come.
The govt said seeking information about the legal position of any case was its 'legitimate right'.
As Opposition and allies of the United Progressive Alliance joined hands to demand further cuts in the prices of petroleum products, the government on Friday said it would announce its decision in this regard in Parliament.
'Priyanka would not have been brought into active politics if there was confidence within the Congress in (party chief) Rahul's leadership'
Mukherjee said while India has been included in the Majors List, there was no year in which it was listed as a country that failed demonstrably to adhere to international counter-narcotics agreements or take counter-narcotic measures.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday ruled out rollback of petrol and diesel price hike saying the nation's fiscal condition did not permit him to do so.
Of the allocation provided, Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) would go for capital expenditure, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said presenting the Budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday extended by a year the one per cent interest subvention scheme for housing sector and provided Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) for it in the budget for 2010-11.
The Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said economic growth during the current fiscal could exceed 7.2 per cent projected by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
Advani said it was a serious matter and wanted Government to take Parliament into confidence.
The discussion has come at a time when the government has approached the International Atomic Energy Agency for discussing India-specific safeguards after securing the nod from the Left allies.
While presenting the Union Budget for 2009-10, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that in order to bring in tax reforms in the country the government will bring the new DTC within 45 days. The code will replace the existing Income Tax Act, which was enacted in 1961 and would subsume the direct tax legislations.
The allocation for Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday saw a 21.39 per cent jump with a major chunk being earmarked for Presidential secretariat expenses.An amount of Rs 38 lakh has been allocated for salaries and allowances of the President in the 2009-10 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha.
While presenting the Budget proposal for the year 2009-10, in Lok Sabha on Monday, he pointed out the policies in a medium term perspective would have to pay attention to.
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