'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
The finance minister could well be on her way to setting a record of achieving the biggest single-year reduction in the government's fiscal deficit, explains A K Bhattacharya.
"It is about time that India and its institutions are protected from these 'institution wreckers'," said Jaitley.
Reform ideas do not occur overnight and evolve over the years.
For growth in export, continuous gain in productivity is essential.
The Budget chose to stick to an ambitious disinvestment programme for 2016-17.
Jaitleysaid Mallya misused his position as an MP to accost him once in Parliament.
'Urjit Patel was not quite the picture of courage, but even he turned, he had to turn.' 'Perhaps there is something that is far more sinister than what we are aware of, which is the reason for his resigation.'
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In its order, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, gave some more leeway to the government which has been arguing that pricing details are so sensitive that they have not even been shared with Parliament.
During Vajpayee's tenure, he was there as an indispensable insider, witness to every action that had an impact on history: Pokhran-II (nuclear tests in 1998), the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indo-Pak Agra Summit in 2001, intense engagement with the United States on nuclear issues besides the Kandahar hijack.
State finance ministers' panel to decide on latest attempt at harmonising of views on Constitution amendment.
With the Congress already opposed to the proposed law, regional parties might become the swing factor, says T N Ninan.
"(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, 'raj dharma' is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours," he claimed.
'You can't take money from Shaktikanta Das (the RBI governor) and give it to Nirmala Sitharaman (the Union finance minister). She will blow it away on Modi.'
Closing ranks, Political parties bristled with outrage over the killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistan with Congress President Sonia Gandhi declaring that India could not be cowed down by such "blatant acts of deceit".
'More people will come out of the BJP. You just wait and watch.'
'Gloom is nowhere in sight, with healthy foreign exchange reserves, a strong rupee, healthy tax collections, corruption and crony capitalism under check,' argues Gopal Krishna Agrawal.
Jaitley's team presents a quintessential mix of foreign-educated, intellectual technocrats and seasoned bureaucrats
The document titled 'Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order' stated that the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been followed in procurement of the Rafale aircraft.
Reduce the government stake in public sector banks to 33 per cent, recommends A K Bhattacharya
A cut in rates would have encouraged the banks to lend aggressively on the retail front.
After 17 tumultuous years, a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) will rollout from midnight of June 30, overhauling India's convoluted indirect taxation system and unifying the $2 trillion economy with 1.3 billion people into a single market.
Can the finance minister manage our expectations, asks A K Bhattacharya.
The apex court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.
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Cabinet likely to pave way for the 'super-rich' tax today.
There is much work to be done to design a good GST.
Armed with data and statistics, Congress leaders refute every point made by Narendra Modi as part of its new strategy to take on the firebrand Gujarat chief minister. Renu Mittal reports
As the Narendra Modi government nears completing a year in office, the Congress on Wednesday stepped up its offensive against the prime minister accusing him of weakening democracy by running a "one-man show" while scoring maximum on "arrogance" and minimum on governance.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
The AG said the country needs the Rafale jet to defend itself 'from F-16 fighter planes that recently bombed us'.
However, independent economists are not as gung-ho as the finance ministry over the likelihood of deficit target being met this time around, says Indivjal Dhasmana.
'They want (the ownership and management of PSU banks) to pass into the hands of a private sector entity.' 'Ownership of these banks will go from the public sector to private sector.'
He has been removed from the high-profile post on the charges of corruption and dereliction of duty making him the first chief in the history of the agency to face such action.
After assuming power in 2014 with a full majority of its own, the BJP-led NDA government started an ambitious process of reforming labour laws in the form of codes aimed at making the framework less cumbersome with a variety of alterations. It had planned four codes each for industrial relations, wages, social security and welfare, and occupational safety, health and working conditions. To this end, 35 central labour laws were to be converted into four codes that would have had the virtue of streamlining labour relations. But none of the proposed code Bills could be converted into a law principally because neither trade unions nor industry representatives came on board. They hold the key to India's low-growth-high unemployment paradigm but the government may struggle to push them through this time as well. Somesh Jha explains why
She said the BJP needs a fresh face in the state before the 2017 elections.
Amit Shah's formal leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party might have its days numbered, given the range of resentment now coming forth against him.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its verdicts on a batch of petitions seeking re-examination of its decision to allow entry of women of all age group in Kerala's Sabarimala Temple and a review of its judgment giving a clean chit to the Modi government in the Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.
'By holding forth on Swadeshi economics, Bhagwat is showing his intent to fight back,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The attorney general admitted that there is no sovereign guarantee, but asserted that there is a letter of comfort by France which would be as good as a governmental guarantee.
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