Mukherjee said uncertainty was still there on oil prices front due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa.
"We are for fight against terrorists and all sorts of terrorism. Therefore, we have no sympathy for any terrorist activity indulged in by any organisation, particularly LTTE (which) is a banned organisation in India," he told media persons. He made the remarks hours before his departure to Sri Lanka, where the government has claimed to have captured Mullaithivu, the last bastion of LTTE.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday refused to comment on a letter sent by his ministry to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum scam, saying he cannot make any remark on the matter as it is "subjudice".
Slowly, Rahul Gandhi is becoming more pro-active and taking a great deal of interest in matters of governance and key programmes of the United Progressive Alliance government. On Thursday, Rahul called on Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence (the first time he paid such a visit) with a Budget wish-list.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the wrong policy and non-functional police of the Left Front government in West Bengal were responsible for the rise of Maoism in the state. "The Left Front government should be blamed for the rise of Maoists in West Bengal. Their wrong policy and non-functional police have allowed the Maoists to enter the state and strengthen their base in Junglemahal," the senior Congress leader told an election rally at Harishchandrapur.
"Terrorism remains a scourge for our region. If a country cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist to protect our interests and people from this menace," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, without naming Islamabad.
The controversial note on the 2G spectrum allocation by the finance ministry, which created a storm by suggestion that the then finance minister P Chidambram could have prevented the scam by enforcing the spectrum auction, was drafted after consultation with the Prime Minister's Office and officials of the cabinet secretariat.
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.
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.
Her letter, mostly in jest, also highlights the problems that women face in the country, particularly in the national capital.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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!"
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday dismissed as speculation reports that he has emerged as a front runner in the race for presidential election.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kumaran Padmanathan, who allegedly financed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, was reported to have been detained in Thailand earlier this week.
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.
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.
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