On the occasion of his 81st birthday, political leaders across parties and other eminent personalities greeted President Pranab Mukherjee.
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.
From starting off his career a teacher in West Bengal to joining politics and holding several ministerial positions, it has been an enviable journey for Pranab Mukherjee through the echelons of power.
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.
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.
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!"
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.
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.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday dismissed as speculation reports that he has emerged as a front runner in the race for presidential election.
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.
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.
Kumaran Padmanathan, who allegedly financed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, was reported to have been detained in Thailand earlier this week.
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.
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
The government had earlier this week briefed top BJP leadership on the same foreign policy issues.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
"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".
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.
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 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.
Amid China's claims over parts of Arunachal Pradesh, India on Sunday said the differences between New Delhi and Beijing over border issues can be resolved through dialogue. "It is true that we have differences with China over the border. But we have agreed to resolve them through dialogue," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the G-20 meeting in Scotland. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao had agreed to maintain peace.
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.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, he said he could not announce 'many radical" measures in the Interim Budget presented earlier this week because of constitutional constraints. Fiscal correction and monetary changes should go side by side so that impact on the economy is maximum, he said adding, his ministry was in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India for future course of action.
"The bank strike is expected to be called off today. I am being told that talks are on between the bank associations and worker unions," he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads an Empowered Group of Ministers on Special Economic Zones, is likely to consult Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the dispute between finance and commerce ministries over tax exemption for export profits from the zones.
He said the defence ministry has also notified the procedure for selection of tier-1 Indian private industries that will be treated at par with state-run defence firms in terms of the provisions of the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2005.
Making it clear that Islamabad's claims of cooperation in Mumbai attacks probe will not suffice, India on Thursday asked Pakistan to implement its words and show in a "transparent" manner that action has been taken against Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other such groups.
