As finance ministry officials remained glued to news flashes on the LCD screens in their rooms, others were constantly monitoring news on the web. The support staff got its share of the news feed by keeping a close watch on politicians visiting North Block, reports Vrishti Beniwal
This means only about 8000 employees will be left with the carrier over the next five years.
In the absence of the aviation policy, all decisions in aviation sector are left to the whims and fantasy of the ministry.
Amid pressure from various quarters for an early decision on the creation of a separate state of Telangana, the government on Saturday said more consultations with various parties are needed on the contentious statehood demand and the exercise would take "some time" to end. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel discussed the situation in Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh.
138 members of Bharat Scouts and Guides from West Bengal, mostly aged between 10 and 15 years, braved their way back to New Jalpaiguri railway station from Sikkim before heading home to Barrackpore near Kolkata to narrate their harrowing experience.
'If the current mood in North Block, headquarters of the finance ministry, is anything to go by, the government will now keep a closer watch on all kinds of schemes and projects undertaken by different central ministries. 'The next six months will determine which central schemes will have to be wound up and which ones will survive the axe,' says A K Bhattacharya.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg is the finance ministry's primary liaison with the RBI.
The Union Home Ministry in North Block in New Delhi plans to install a surveillance system. With the introduction of biometric tracing system, every move the employee makes can be tacked.
G20 delegates are in Mumbai, so the Maximum City has got hurriedly painted walls and makeover.
Mr Chidambaram is known for his ability to think up new taxes to collect more revenue, and a tax for the super-rich could be one of those ideas he might introduce in the coming Budget.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has brought about a coup in North Block by bringing an Indian Foreign Service officer Venu Rajamoni as Joint Secretary to head multilateral institutions division.
Pranab Mukherjee, who resigned as the Finance Minister on Tuesday to contest for the post of President as a Congress nominee, sought to justify some of his tough and contentious decisions saying that they were taken in the interest of people.
The governor had just made an elaborate presentation in defence of the central bank's decision to not to succumb to industry's demand for rate cuts in the mid-quarter policy.
"Soon I will not be a political entity," Pranab Mukherjee remarked hours before he resigns as finance minister to contest Presidential poll, but promised to deliver his "last message" before he bids adieu.
The governor had just made an elaborate presentation in defence of the central bank's decision to not to succumb to industry's demand for rate cuts in the mid-quarter policy.
Preparations for Budget 2011-12 are in full swing. Intelligence Bureau sleuths in plain clothes are watching each and every movement of the team which prepares the Budget documents.
Ashok Chawla outlined the key thrust areas of Budget 2011.
The Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin may prove to be a much bigger play for Reliance Industries Ltd. This follows the announcement that its D4 block could hold twice the reserves of the in-production D6 block to the north.
On the eve of the Supreme Court hearing of his petition on age, Army Chief Gen V K Singh on Thursday met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who has been informally acting as a trouble-shooter in the controversy.
PM's new vigour should revive investment - but may not return India to nine per cent growth.
While trying to persuade North Korea to give up its provocative actions, engaging China is the first hurdle that world leaders will have to deal with, says Rajaram Panda.
The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 11 am, 10.9 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
Reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notwithstanding, North Block, the finance ministry headquarters, is going ahead with its plans to set up a full-fledged Debt Management Office (DMO) to manage the government debt.
While the signals of intent have already gone from North Block, the hiccups this time are coming from officials in the Finance Ministry, who had got used to a certain mindset.
As India seems to be picking 'Bharat' at least in official communication, here are some interesting name changes.
The Madhya Pradesh directorate general of Hydrocarbons has granted Petroleum Exploration Licence to ADAG for exploration of CBM from Sohagpur (north) block in Shahdol district on August 11, official sources said in Bhopal on Thursday.
Amid the raging row over the controversial 2G note, three ministers on Wednesday night met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence to find a way out to end the political storm.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com Gopalan replies back to the critics of the Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The new Parliament building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project, and it is expected to be completed in 21 months.
Chanu had confessed that the 90kg lift had become somewhat of a mental block last year, ahead of the CWG.
China has signalled that it will prevent India from assuming leadership of the Global South, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The process has been suspended for the time being as Agriculture, Food & Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar, a political heavyweight, is opposed to any intrusion into his turf.
During his first Union Budget in July 2014, former finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the setting up of an institution called 3P India, with an allocation of Rs 500 crore. The intention was to mainstream public-private partnerships (PPPs) in India. The plan was to bring together the capacities of the government and private sector to push PPP projects.
Leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday met Home Minister P Chidambaram as they began face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam.
A group of Bhopal gas tragedy survivors staged a demonstration in front of the North Block office of Home Ministry where the meetings of Group of Ministers on the issue was taking place.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The posts of finance secretary and secretary, economic affairs department generate ambiguities over ownership of the finance ministry's most important annual exercise.
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