Tag: Nirmala Sitharaman

“It was a deliberate sexist insult. Gandhi family and the dynasty is the only thing that matters for the Congress party and they don’t care about anyone. Sonia Gandhi should apologise to the President of India,” said Union Finance Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman on Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury's 'Rashtrapatni' remark against President Draupadi Murmu.

Others who took oath are Vivek K. Tankha, K. Laxman, Laxmikant Vajpayee, Kalpana Saini, Sulata Deo and R. Dharmar. Fourteen of the 57 members were re-elected to the House.

Addressing the media at the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council here, Sitharaman said casinos, horse-racing, and online gaming are all gambling.

Addressing the 'Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence' conclave here, she said the Union government has been pumping in huge money in developing a number of infrastructure projects throughout the region.

Addressing a roundtable on 'Investing in India's Digital Revolution' in San Francisco, the minister encouraged constant engagement with investors to understand and address their concerns.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's stand on the Russia-Ukraine war was predicated on the security challenges in its own neighbourhood and the US should understand that though it has a friend in India, that "friend can't be a weak friend (and) the friend should be not weakened".

The minister pointed out that in the last 7 years and 9 months of the present government till December 2021, India recieved FDI inflows of $500.5 billion, which is 65 per cent higher than the inflows during the 10 years of the UPA government.

Replying to a discussion on the Finance Bill, Sitharaman said India was probably the only country that did not resort to new taxes to fund the recovery of the economy hit by the COVID pandemic.

The EPFO has proposed cutting down the interest rate on provident fund deposits from 8.5 per cent in 2020-21 to 8.1 per cent for 2021-22.

Questioning ongoing delimitation process, Tewari said that as per his knowledge local political parties are not happy with the process and they need to be actively involved in the whole exercise. He demanded for provision of representation of Sikh minority in the assembly.

While underlining the importance of synergy among various government departments, she said: "Hon'ble Prime Minister's Gati Shakti plan is an umbrella for several projects of different departments and envisages states' participatory role leading to synergy and a multiplier effect especially in infrastructure."

A sustained recovery is what we would want. The budget has growth revival as a priority along with messages for sustainability as a priority and on predictable tax regimen, she said.

Replying to the Opposition's comments on Bangladesh growing faster than India, she informed the House that India's economy is 10 times bigger than Bangladesh, so if Bangladesh grew at 10 per cent and India grew just at 1 per cent, the absolute number in terms of growth will be the same.

Modi released a commemorative postal stamp on the occasion of ICRISAT's 50th Foundation day. He also launched the Climate Change Research Facility on plant protection.

According to Aniket Jindal, Co-founder of developer platform Biconomy, Such a Blockchain-based digital rupee has the potential for being a big step in onboarding hundreds of millions of Indians into the Blockchain economy.