Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday elicited the views of their junior cabinet colleagues and Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh on the Telangana statehood demand, which has virtually divided the party on regional lines.
G-24 grouping comprises 24 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Mukherjee, who held the External Affairs portfolio in the P V Narasimha Rao government till May 1996, said he was happy to be back.
Finance Minister pegs 2011-12 growth at 8.6 per cent, expects inflation to fall to 6-7 per cent by end of the financial year.
Stressing that the Cabinet notes meant for Group of Ministers should be in line with the procedures, a Cabinet secretariat circular cites Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee pointing out mistakes galore in the notes submitted to him for one of many GoM meetings he chairs.
Earlier, the minister visited the site of the Indian National Army memorial and described it as a "poignant moment".
Amongst the first actions of Pranab Mukherjee after becoming the President was to appoint Omita Paul as his secretary in place of Christy Fernandes, who was the secretary to outgoing President Pratibha Patil.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday made a strong case for Bangladesh granting transit and connectivity to India, contending that this can pave the way for greater integration in South and South East Asia.
A host of political leaders and the cream of Tamil film world were among those who turned up for the wedding reception of Union Minister M K Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi on Wednesday at the sprawling Tamukkam grounds in Madurai, which was converted into an excellently decorated wedding hall.
United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee said in Kolkata on Saturday night that if necessary, he would definitely talk to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, seeking her support to his candidature.
Board of Control for Cricket in India Vice President Rajiv Shukla on Friday briefed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the ongoing Indian Premier League controversy.
President elect Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi and other top leaders at their memorials in New Delhi before heading to Parliament to take oath as the 13th President of India.
On the eve of his visit to China, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday made it clear that Arunachal Pradesh is not disputed and that India will not give up its right over it.Talking to reporters in Chennai, he acknowledged that Chinese troops have been indulging in incursions and that Indian security forces had been asked to be alert and maintain vigil along the border to stop such intrusions."We have a democratically-elected government there," he said.
Union Minister Shashi Tharoor met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday night as the controversy surrounding him in the IPL snowballed with the opposition demanding his sacking.
Former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld once had to catch Mukherjee in Kirnahar during the Puja.
The US government had on January 23 offered to check the availability of Tamiflu syrup for children from worldwide stocks, provide technical support for human surveillance, diagnosis, and preparedness and technical support for animal surveillance and culling.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met United States President George W Bush at the White House in Washington on Monday and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including the civil nuclear deal.Bush and Mukherjee are said to have exchanged not only pleasantries but also discussed the width and depth of the United States-India relations that included the civilian nuclear initiative.Specific details of the meeting have not been made available to the media.
Endorsing the Economic Survey's emphasis on the farm and the infrastructure sectors for achieving higher economic growth, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said inflation and widening current account deficit remain major areas of concern.
In the past three years, agreements on defence cooperation have been entered into by India with several countries, including China, Russia, the UK and France, Mukherjee said.
Anna Hazare-led activists on Monday reacted sharply Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for accusing the civil society of trying to undermine democracy and said his statement betrayed a "distorted understanding of democracy and arrogance of power".
The trio met reportedly to discuss the cash row controversy surrounding the Indian Premier League (IPL) and its impact on the future of the sport and the politics of the nation.
The Indian Air Force will soon place orders for the first batch of 20 Light Combat Aircraft with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday. \n\n
"If this declining trend continues, I do hope it will have a moderating influence on the price front," Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi.
The newly appointed Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee took charge of his new office in north block, returning to it after a gap of 24 years. The Finance Ministry office, which has been sealed off to outsiders and particularly prying journalists with the vote-on-account preparations in full swing, was on Thursday opened up at 4 p.m. when the media was invited in to cover the taking over ceremony.
Maintaining that both India and the US are seriously trying to sort out the 'outstanding issues', he, however, refused to specify when the agreement will be firmed up.
Mukherjee said the demand for small states was not confined to Telangana alone but was there in other states also.
The Mumbai attacks came up for discussion when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, with the Indian side apprising him about Pakistani linkages to the terror strikes and urging him to press Islamabad to cooperate.
Leader of the Opposition Lal Kishenchand Advani raised the issue of the Chinese envoy's remark.
Food inflation increased in the week ended September 18 as the prices of cereals, fruits, select vegetables and milk rose on account of supply disruptions caused by heavy rains and floods.
During his maiden visit to Bhadrabila village, where the ancestral house of his in-laws is located, on March 5, Mukherjee announced a gift of six computers to the local Ramakrishna Ashram and promised construction of a 12-class room block or a girls' hostel for a local school located on the bank of Chitra river, according to official sources said on Thursday.
"It is the job of Parliament to legislate. We (government) had several rounds of discussion with him (Anna Hazare) and his team. We know their viewpoints. About nine rounds of meetings have already been held with them. Thereafter also, through interlocutors some discussions also took place with them," Mukherjee told media persons at his south Kolkata residence.
Terrorism, trade and port transit issues are likely to dominate the bilateral talks as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee becomes the first high-level Indian dignitary to visit Bangladesh since the assumption of office by Sheikh Hasina.
His election to the President's office on Sunday comes as a fitting finale for the 76-year-old Congressman from West Bengal, till recently the trouble-shooter of UPA, a task he has handled for last eight years.
According to sources in the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is firmly against activist Anna Hazare's demand for formally constituting a joint committee, with representatives from the civil society and the government, to draft a strong anti-corruption bill. Hazare has been on an indefinite fast in New Delhi since Wednesday to press for his demand.Mukherjee has stopped the government from issuing a notification to make the joint committee formal.
Ahead of a crucial meeting of the Centre on Kashmir, state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony to seek their support on the partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state. Sources said Omar had met Mukherjee late on Wednesday night at the latter's residence for about half-an-hour, during which the chief minister presented his case for withdrawal of the AFSPA.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday revealed that his name was proposed for the post of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Chief in the 1980s but he backed out as he has "never held a bat" and put forward the name of N K P Salve in his place.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party was left embarassed after its MLAs cross voted in the Presidential election, former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa was in all praise for the newly-elected President -- Pranab Mukherjee.
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