Making a passionate plea to lawmakers to avoid disruption of Parliament and state assemblies, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday called for "collective thinking" by political parties on the issue. He also asked them to ponder whether there was any need to amend existing rules to ensure smooth functioning of the House.
Critics call fiscal deficit projections ambitious; government to meet Opposition, chief ministers to discuss issues after Budget session
Before leaving to tender his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mukherjee said, " I stand ready to embark on a new journey".
Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury created flutters on Thursday when she talked of how valuable Pranab Mukherjee is to the government but the party stepped in immediately to clear the air saying the finance minister is not ruled out from the Presidential race.
Human rights should be introduced as a subject in the school curriculum to increase awareness about it in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday. "We must increase awareness for human rights by including it as a subject in school curriculum. A human rights culture should infuse our national consciousness," Mukherjee said at a function organised by the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Communist Party of India - Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat on Tuesday to discuss the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement. Mukherjee asked the Left Front to allow the United Progressive Alliance government to go ahead with the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Sharmistha Mukherjee disapproved of his decision, saying he was giving the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh a handle to plant false stories, as his 'speech will be forgotten' but the 'visuals will remain'.
Amid fears of double-dip recession, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday called for concerted action by G-20 nations to provide impetus to the world economy and deal with the related problems.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank's decision to hike short-term borrowing and lending rates will help contain inflation and was in line with the government's policy.
Hours after his angry outburst led to an hour-long adjournment of Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed his "regret" for losing temper, saying it was not appropriate.
Launching his campaign for the Presidential election in which he appears set for a cakewalk, United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday appealed to all political parties to back his candidature, apparently eyeing Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Mukherjee met UPA's key partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's president M Karunanidhi at his residence in Chennai, formally kick-starting the campaign.
United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee is expected to file four sets of nomination papers signed by top UPA leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
The meeting, slated for 1300 hours, could not commence on time and was delayed by over half an hour.
Amid souring ties, the president visited Beijing for three days. On his return to India, a hope of better ties has arisen, says senior correspondent R Rajagopalan, who travelled with Pranab Mukherjee to the Asian superpower.
On instructions from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Intelligence Bureau has taken up the task of identifying a sudden quantum jump in the amount of foreign money flowing in the country through withdrawals by foreigners on credit and debit cards issued by foreign banks.
Mukherjee said he was well and hoped to be back at work after 48 hours.
The OECD is a club of developing countries and has been playing a key role in reforming the international taxation system.
The delegation, comprising leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and others, said Mukherjee had assured them that DTC was only at the drafting stage and discussions were still on.
Amidst the flurry of political activities in Delhi over selection of the Presidential nominee, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose name has been reported to be Congress' first choice as candidate, on Thursday telephoned former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
But the veteran Congress leader offered all support to the prime minister-designate
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who arrived in Kabul on Wednesday on a two-day visit, discussed cooperation in the field of security and developmental projects with President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Rangin Dafdar Spanta.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the Euro Zone crisis is impacting the country's growth and will hurt exports in coming months.
The India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday monsoon rains are expected to be below normal at 95 per cent of the long period average, with margin for error of plus or minus 4 per cent.
'We think we can do anything and everything when we have an overwhelming majority in the legislature. But that should not be the case'
President Pranab Mukherjee will be honoured by Bangladesh government on Monday in recognition of his contribution to the struggle that led to the birth of this nation 42 years ago.
Defending Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday that he found "nothing wrong" in the key United Progressive Alliance ally's statement that the killing of top Maoist leader Azad was not correct.
Pranab Mukherjee appears set to be the next President with his candidature announced on Friday by the ruling UPA and endorsed swiftly by supporting parties Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party amid indications that he will gather more support ahead.
"Unprecedented" direct taxes collection of Rs 7.90 lakh crore in 2010-11 has "greatly strengthened" the country's efforts for fiscal consolidation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee started their one-day visit to the flood-affected regions of Gujarat on Thursday morning.
Rejecting P A Sangma's claim and objection, the government on Monday said that the United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee resigned as the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute a week before he filed his nomination in the President's election and does not not hold any office of profit.
The Congress on Monday bid a warm farewell to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, poised to become the country's President, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the veteran leader will be missed.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spelt out the details of the United Progressive Alliance's austerity measures on Friday, saying he has advised ministers to travel in the Economy Class domestically and in the Business Class during international travel. The Finance Ministry has asked the various ministries to ensure a 10 per cent cut in non- planned expenditure, except in expenses related to security.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Russian counterpart Servey Lavrov held wide-ranging discussions on international issues with special emphasis on progress made in the strategic partnership between the two countries and the forthcoming annual summit.
After a meeting at BJP leader LK Advani's residence, from which the BJP's oldest ideological ally the Shiv Sena kept away, NDA convenor Sharad Yadav merely said more discussions were needed to arrive at a right decision
Far from the rough and tumble of politics, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in Kolkata at his ancestral home at Miriti in Birbhum district to perform Durga Puja as he has been doing every year.
Soon after United Progressive Alliance announced Pranab Mukherjee as its candidate for the Presidential election, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj to seek BJP's support for him.
"I extend puja greetings (Saradiyar Subhecchha) to all people and wish them well," a relaxed Mukherjee said while leaving for his ancestral home with his wife.
Mukherjee, who held the External Affairs portfolio in the P V Narasimha Rao government till May 1996, said he was happy to be back.
Abhijit also said he would like the government to issue a postage stamp in honour of his father.
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