Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term.
'If the period between 1991 and 2014 was about laying the foundations and building the runway, the period from 2014 to 2024 has been about the aircraft taking off.'
Buoyed by the high turnout in the Punjab Assembly elections, Advani asked for a similar phenomenon in Congress-ruled Uttarakhand where elections are scheduled for February 21.
Pakistani experts are disappointed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in Parliament on the Indo-Pak joint statement, terming it as a response to the pressure exerted by Opposition parties.
The 87-year-old Congress leader was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness.
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
'We are at the fag end of the government's tenure. There is more curiosity when there are chances of a mid-term poll than now. Here, the only curiosity is whether Dr Singh will be able to garner those votes,' says former BJP MP Ram Naik.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would have his tete-a-tete with Obama in Bali in a surreal setting, says MK Bhadrakumar, and draws comparisons to the US-China encounter in Honolulu
'He can do wonders if only he dons the mantle of the leader, mentor and path-setter of the nation and for all its people, instead of remaining content with being a mere PM belonging to one of the many political parties,' says B S Raghavan.
'Six years of development done by the Vajpayee government has been undone in three months by the Manmohan\n\nSingh government,' the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged.
Rediff.com takes a look at the revamped Cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
'Bush was too committed towards Indo-US relations. I don't know if Obama is as committed.' Former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh in an exclusive interview.
Join India in wishing Dr Singh a quick recovery.
The manner in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has used his good and clean image to provide a protective umbrella to the corrupt makes him equally culpable, says Sanjay Kapoor.
The revelation may have come late in the century but the Congress disclosed on Thursday, May 29, 2025, that the Indian Army conducted six surgical strikes against Pakistan during UPA-2, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's second term in power.
President A P J Abdul Kalam presented the awards in Central Hall of Parliament.
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday charged that "bad governance" and "corruption" had slackened state's progress and a sense of insecurity was prevalent among the minorities.
Political conflicts with deep social roots are not resolved through ill-conceived surreptitious deals. They require a bold political vision to resolve them. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the recent annual conference on internal security showed a vision that is cynical, sterile and bureaucratic, writes RN Ravi, former special diretor of the Intelligence Bureau
Jaswant has said that since the PM was a senior minister in that cabinet, he should address the issue.
New British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet his Indian counterpart in Toronto on Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, his first after assuming office last month. Cameron, who heads the Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition government, will meet Singh to take forward his administration's commitment made in the Queen's Speech to 'work to establish a new special relationship with India.'
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the row over killing of two fishermen allegedly by two Italian marines and agreed that the issue should be resolved amicably in accordance with law.
Pakistan on Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks in the Round Table Conference on Kashmir contained many positive elements.
After his party formally joined the United Progressive Alliance on Monday, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh is likely to be sworn in as a Union Cabinet Minister this week with civil aviation being mentioned as the possible portfolio.
The BJP has launched a fresh attack on Rahul Gandhi, questioning his frequent visits to Vietnam. The party's leaders have accused him of spending more time in the Southeast Asian country than his constituency and have demanded an explanation for his "extraordinary fondness" for Vietnam. Gandhi's foreign trips have been a target of the BJP's criticism in the past, with the party portraying him as unserious and unfit for domestic politics.
Sources close to the top BJP leadership tell me that Tharoor has already had secret meetings with the BJP's top brass and is waiting patiently to make his next move, reports Ramesh Menon.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has lauded his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, describing him as a "genuine person" who is keen to resolve all bilateral issues.
"We decline comment," a poll panel spokesperson said on queries related to the prime minister's speech on Sunday in Banswara.
Noting that terrorism is haunting the Asian and Central Asian regions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday underlined the need for "genuine" cooperation among countries on a global scale to resolutely defeat the menace.
As the Centre announced the inclusion of caste enumeration in the next census on Wednesday, opposition parties said it is a victory for their long-standing demand and sought time-bound implementation.
On another occasion, he recalled, as part of the SPG, he was tasked with the security of the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and assigned the responsibility of escorting Tata from Taj Mansingh Hotel in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, accusing it of repeatedly "wounding" the Indian Constitution. He claimed that the Congress, driven by its "lust for power," has consistently undermined the principles of the Constitution. Modi, however, praised India's democratic journey since its independence, highlighting the country's strong democratic roots and its unwavering commitment to its founding principles. He underscored the importance of unity for India's future development and emphasized that the Constitution is the bedrock of that unity.
She met the prime minister in Delhi and pledged all support him.
Although Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi might be the Congress' enemy number one, in private, many Congressmen blame Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the party's current plight.
Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Afghanistan but the dates are yet to be worked out.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to encourage what he hopes is beginning of change of the Pakistani mindset towards India.
The honour of being the guest at the first state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama would go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it will be held during his upcoming State Visit scheduled for November 24. Obama, who has been a great admirer of Manmohan Singh for his visionary role in steering India from a developing country to a major economic power, has invited the prime minister for the first State Visit of his administration.
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