The Congress core group met at the prime minister's residence late on Wednesday night and weighed options to deal with the demand made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to sack Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
Her letter, mostly in jest, also highlights the problems that women face in the country, particularly in the national capital.
Output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, rose 8.5 per cent in January, compared to 8.1 per cent in the same month last year.
"A few public sector undertakings have been identified for sale of small portions of the government shareholding in the domestic market and for issue of fresh equity to meet their fund requirements, if required," Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday at the Economic Editors' Conference.
As security situation in Pakistan continues to deteriorate, India has said developments in the neighbouring country would have a "bearing" on its territory too.
After Home Minister P Chidmabaram talked about a 'limited mandate' in the fight against Maoists, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said the issue will be discussed in the Cabinet and there "cannot be a public debate on the problem". "No, these are issues that we will have to discuss in the Cabinet. There cannot be a public debate because the fact of the matter is (that) the proposals of the home ministry have been adopted by the Cabinet," he said.
Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, has alleged a "rot" within the Congress party and called for serious introspection. She criticized the party's lack of ideology and its treatment of non-dynastic leaders, citing the case of former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. She also questioned the party's failure to convene a Congress Working Committee meeting after her father's death, highlighting a perceived loss of institutional memory. Mukherjee, who has since left politics, also advocated for a memorial to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a posthumous Bharat Ratna award for him.
The Government on Wednesday virtually turned own demands of two Tamil parties, including United Progressive Alliance constituent Patali Makkal Katchi, for India's intervention to stop military offensive in Sri Lanka, saying it cannot force a sovereign government of another country to take a particular line.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold talks with the opponents of Women's Reservation Bill before the government's takes the next step on it, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.
Among the aam aadmi measures, leaders sought an increase in the minimum support price mainly for sugarcane, income tax relief to the salaried class and more benefits to senior citizens. Suggestions were also made to increase subsidy for diesel for farmers and fishermen. Soft loans for minorities and SC/STs were also demanded. But issues like disinvestment, SEZ amendments, insurance bill or financial sector reforms were not discussed.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet heads of public sector banks on Wednesday to impress upon them the need to further moderate interest rates and also increase availability of credit to industry, suffering from the impact of the global downturn.
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.
Jyoti Basu, the 95-year-old communist, has lost touch with many of his comrades. But this morning the former chief minister of West Bengal did not forget to call his favourite Congressman to say, "Happy Birthday!"
Replying to a question from a delegate participating in the Pravasi Baharatiya Diwas in Chennai that why the country did not have young leadership, he said Rahul Gandhi would follow the footsteps of his father Rajiv Gandhi, who became the prime minister at a young age.
Amid ballooning fiscal deficit, the government on Tuesday categorically said that it has 'no intention' to monetise its debt, which implies that it will not directly borrow from the Reserve Bank of India. As fiscal deficit is projected to be at 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal and the government has pegged its market borrowings at around Rs 4 lakh crore (Rs 4 trillion) for 2009-10.
The developers, including Raheja Ltd, Ascendas, L&T and GMR, among others, are in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's Export Promotion Council for export oriented units and special economic zones.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday dismissed as speculation reports that he has emerged as a front runner in the race for presidential election.
Mukherjee said that the demand of the Bhartiya Janata Party for a Joint Parliamentary Committee, as he told L K Advani and Jaswant Singh, was not possible.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday refuted the claim made by the Communist Party of India-Marxist that the government had 'substantially cut' the quota of rice meant to be given to the people through the Public Distribution System. However, despite the minister's denial, the Left parties continued to insist that there has been substantial cut in the quota in West Bengal and Kerala, in particular.
Hinting at the Pakistani establishment's backing to terrorists who struck in Mumbai, India on Saturday said such strikes could be carried out with impunity only when the safety of the "handlers" of attackers has been assured.
The suspense over the fate of embattled Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan continued on Sunday night with a high-level Congress committee tasked to give a report on the housing scam in Mumbai saying it would need 'more time' to do its job. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is heading the two-member committee, met fellow panel member Defence Minister A K Antony on Sunday night shortly after his arrival from Kolkata.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 28.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 28.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram expressed confidence that Pranab Mukherjee would win the Presidential election with over 65 per cent votes when asked whether the UPA candidate would sail through without Trinamool Congress support.
The fiscal deficit, which is the difference between total expenditure and revenue, as percentage of GDP will come down from 6.9 per cent in the revised estimates for the current fiscal, he said unveiling the 2010-11 Budget in the Lok Sabha.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said the government has taken note of the Supreme Court observations and action will be taken against Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan who is facing charges of stashing huge amounts of money in tax havens.
Kumaran Padmanathan, who allegedly financed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, was reported to have been detained in Thailand earlier this week.
The Intelligence Bureau dismissed the incident stating that there was no bug but a chewing gum in the finance minister's office. But then why would the Finance Minister even write a letter to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention if there was really nothing there?
Attributing the fall in stock markets in the past few days to selling by FIIs, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asserted on Wednesday that the fundamentals are strong and the economy will clock 8.5 per cent growth in the current financial year.
He's the first finance minister to present Budgets on either side of an election and the first to do so after a quarter-century gap.
The government had earlier this week briefed top BJP leadership on the same foreign policy issues.
As China frowned on Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, India on Monday said border differences between the two countries could be resolved through dialogue.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to soothe the frayed nerves of India's financial regulators by saying the government would not undermine their autonomy. Mukherjee's assurance came a day after Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao went public with his "concerns" over dilution of the central bank's role in dealing with inter-regulatory disputes in the Ordinance issued last month.
Insisting that the controversy over the finance ministry note on 2G spectrum issue with inferences against P Chidambaram is not over, Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has bowed to wishes of the "head of the family" and asked him to clarify where he disagreed with it.
Asserting that India and Pakistan can unite through a common market, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday invited Islamabad to work jointly for developing a trade and economic block, "which could even be a matter of envy for blocks like Europe
"Arunachal is an integral part of India," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi, a day after Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi claimed that the east Indian state was "Chinese territory".
The government on Saturday said it will be premature to make a judgment on whether corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was a spy or not, until the probe is completed in the matter.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday expressed dismay over the way Lok Sabha had to approve an additional net expenditure of about Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) without any discussion in the din by Opposition over demand for a joint parliamentary committee to probe 2G spectrum allocation.
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