She said that despite government scheme and initiatives ranging from roads to agriculture, housing, scholarships to electricity benefiting lives of people, a false narrative was being created by the opposition that the government was working for cronies.
The focus is likely to be on consolidation and improvement of existing rural-centric programmes to ensure their completion ahead of the next general elections in 2019, rather than announcement of new schemes. Sanjeeb Mukherjee and Arup Roychoudhury report.
Modi said whenever Congress came back, all development works came to a standstill.
Ramoji Rao lived as the interface between business and politics and was an active participant in both for most of his remarkable life.
Modi said the policies of the government will empower the downtrodden and turn them into a "power house" for the development of the country.
Without making two-thirds of the country's population a development partner, India's prosperity is impossible, the Congress leader added.
President Murmu reached the new Parliament building in a six-horse buggy accompanied by the Presidential Bodyguards riding horses.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision to allow Singh to speak on the Bharat Ratna honour to Charan Singh drew sharp protest from the Congress, leading to a heated exchange of words between the opposition and the treasury benches.
From referencing "josh" of Bollywood flick 'Uri', to chants of "Modi, Modi" from the Bharatiya Janata Party, there were varied reactions in Lok Sabha as Finance Minister Piyush Goyal gave his interim budget speech on Friday.
The budget session of the Parliament begins today.
Later, Sitharaman's office clarified that the FM had already met the industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.
Two full-fledged semiconductor fabrication plants are going to come up in India very soon entailing multi-billion dollar investment besides several chip assembly and packaging units, Minister of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. In an interview with PTI, the minister confirmed that the two projects include a $8 billion proposal submitted by Israel-based Tower Semiconductors and the other from Tata Group. "I am happy to share this with you and you are probably the first one I'm sharing this with.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a Rs 100 per cylinder cut in cooking gas LPG price to ease financial burden on households. Non-subsidised cooking gas price will be cut to Rs 803 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital with effect from midnight of Friday/Saturday, official sources said. Prices vary from state to state depending on the incidence on local taxes.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
Gandhi said the prime minister did not answer the questions he had posed to him.
'Milking poorly performing or easily marketable assets is the way to deliver more money for key programmes,' says T N Ninan.
The budget is "farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly" and will add to 'ease of living' and 'ease of doing business', Modi added.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget.
'Investors need to be stock specific and should not rush to buy stocks at the current levels.'
'There is a time for lowering one's expectations of the economy -- and therefore not trying to do too much in the Budget,' notes T N Ninan.
Parliament will now meet on March 8 for the second part of the Budget session.
As per practice a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in the election year and a full-fledged budget presented by the new government.
Boxer-cum-politician Vijender Singh has said he has no qualms about admitting that he has paid an emotional price for the decision to make a political switch from the Congress to the BJP, but insisted that he had his reasons to do so.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said both public and private sectors need to leverage synergies and think out of the box to seize opportunities arising as a result of the emerging global environment. While interacting with noted economists and experts at NITI Aayog ahead of the Union Budget, the prime minister also applauded the success of the India Digital story and the rapid adoption of fintech across the country, an official statement said. During the meeting, economists offered suggestions on ways in which India can sustain its development momentum, it added.
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Participating in the debate on the budget, leaders of parties like the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Left launched an all-out attack on the BJP government for allegedly selling off the country's assets and PSUs to big industrialists.
Tharoor said people have incurred losses after their money which was invested in LIC, SBI was put by the government "in its friend's account".
The first part of the Budget Session of Parliament is likely to end on February 13 instead of February 15, sources said on Friday, underling that the total number of working days would however remain the same.
Asked about the BJP's claim that its performance in southern states will be exemplary, Tharoor said, "The claim of an 'exemplary' performance is yet another product of the BJP's propaganda mill."
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is determined to implement the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project despite the Centre's indifference.
The losses in state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have put the ruling party under pressure to announce swift measures aimed at addressing rural distress and lack of employment.
Noting that the new trains will connect the culture of Telangana and AP, Modi said Vande Bharat symbolises new India's resolution and capabilities.
The first two days of the session will be devoted to swearing-in of the newly elected MPs while the Lok Sabha speaker will be elected on June 19.
Farmers protesting at various sites on the border of Delhi on Monday unequivocally said they are only concerned about their common goal of having the three farm laws repealed, and what has been offered to the agriculture sector in the Union budget did not matter.
Citing the examples of Kashi Vishwanath temple, Ujjain and Ayodhya, where major reconstruction works have been carried out in recent years, Modi attributed the "years of neglect" to a "slave mentality".
"Of the structural reforms, the GST has been the most historic in our country. Its chief architect is not with us today. I pay homage to the visionary leader late Arun Jaitely. GST has been gradually maturing into a tax that has integrated the country economically," she said during her budget speech.
The numbers become all the more important because actual tax collections fell short by Rs 1.91 trillion compared to what was projected in 2018-19. Besides, the Budget for FY20 did not give actual figures for 2018-19, but the revised numbers given in the interim Budget.
Excluding the pension outgo, the allocation in the Union Budget for the armed forces stands at Rs 3.62 lakh crore.
On Monday, a new chapter will be written in Ayodhya's and the country's history with the consecration ceremony at the newly-built Ram temple which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and over 7,000 guests.
Will Finance Minister Arun Jaitley live up to the expectations of India Inc and individual taxpayers? Watch all the action here live from Parliament.
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