As it turns out, the number of small and marginal farmers is more than 30 million and it is estimated that the number is likely to be 36.90 million, while the number of other farmers is estimated about 5.97 million. These are verified but as yet unaudited figures. Initially, in the Budget, it was estimated that the cost of the scheme will be about Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) to the central government.

The Pakistan People's Party, heading the coalition, decided to keep the ministerial portfolios, except for Finance, vacant hoping to bring around Nawaz Sharif's party which pulled out its ministers after the deadline for reinstating the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf expired on Monday.

A comparison of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 budget sessions shows dismal results. The earlier two years were no better but this year's budget session has seen less work by Parliament than in the last two years. Little wonder then that the budget session 2008 has been the shortest in the last three years.

Announcing this, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee thanked the members for their cooperation in passing the Finance Bill 2008, but regretted that 28 hours and 30 minutes were lost due to interruptions and forced adjournments. However, he also noted that the House sat for an extra 36 hours and 38 minutes to compensate for the loss.

The Women's Reservation Bill, which provides for 33 per cent quota for women, will be considered by the Cabinet on Monday night and is expected to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha, sources said in Delhi. The bill is expected to be referred to the Standing Committee soon after being tabled in the Upper House, they said.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on Tuesday, said that he would not discuss with the media what steps the government is taking to bring down rising prices. He was speaking to journalists outside Parliament soon after the first adjournment of the house on Tuesday morning on the issue of rising prices.

Even as experts were debating pros and cons of the waiver, came the first-ever announcement in the history of commodity markets anywhere in the world the introduction of Commodity Transaction Tax and this, coupled with service tax imposed on commodity exchanges, was a blow to the nascent commodity Futures industry in the country.

One hopes the big daddies of South Block and DRDO realise why radical reforms are so crucial.

The party high command has set up a high profile three-member panel of Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony, and political adviser to Congress president Ahmed Patel to review the performance of Deshmukh, who has been at the receiving end from his detractors.Speculation is rife for the past some months that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is keen to replace him."The Congress periodically conducts in-house exercises, " Tiwari said.

The Andhra Pradesh assembly took up the marathon debate on the no-confidence motion tabled by the main opposition TDP against the Congress government. This is the first time that the present government is facing a no-trust motion even as it completes four years in power. The TDP attacked the Congress government for alleged acts of omission and commission.

A day after a case of sexual abuse was registered against Orissa Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mohanty, the complainant lady marshal was untraceable.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday asserted that his government always stood for proper action as per law. Patnaik, however, skirted queries about the possibility of the Speaker's resignation. The Speaker, who has denied the charge of sexual abuse, promised to cooperate with the police in the investigation.

This is clearly the worst financial problem we've had since the Great Depression," as Joseph Stiglitz told a radio show in New Zealand on Wednesday morning.

"We will support nothing with India in the NSG that is in contradiction to the Hyde Act. It will have to be completely consistent with the obligations of the Hyde Act," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the House Foreign Affairs Panel.

The text of US President George W Bush's final State of the Union address delivered to Congress on Monday.

"The last one year has been truly satisfying for my government. The year 2007 witnessed the lowest number of militancy related incidents and civilian killings. We acknowledge the excellent work done by the police, the paramilitary forces and the army with the cooperation of the people," Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lieutenant General (Retired) S K Sinha said.

Economic cracks are already beginning to form along China's Great Wall.

Britain on Friday became the world's first country to publish a landmark climate change legislation setting out legally binding targets to tackle climate change for the next 50 years.

There is apprehension that the recent crisis could have been created in response to the 1997 Mathew Commission report that was made public two months ago.

An alternative to oil? Check. Completely green? Check. Economical? Check. So why has the entrepreneur been sued, pilloried, and lampooned?

Promoters pay themselves huge sums in diversified firms and shareholders are none the wiser.

However, Zed does not reveal who facilitated the event and why he was selected when there are several Hindu priests in and around Washington, DC, itself.

Before 1975, the city had several thousand Indians as its residents but most of them had left due to the war between Vietnamese guerrillas and American troops.

He will create history because this would be the first-time ever the US Congress' powerful Upper House.

The recent blacklisting of 600 NGOs by the Union rural development ministry was meant to stem the rot in the functioning of its autonomous body called Council for Advancement of People's Action And Rural Technology or Capart.

One wing of the government's definition of what constitues infrastructure is different from that of another and this needs to be resolved fast.

The government will promulgate an ordinance to buy RBI's 59.7 per cent stake in the country's largest lender SBI for estimated cost of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion).

Senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters before the start of an all-party meeting with Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that there should be uniformity while dealing with wrongdoings by MPs.

Following are the highlights of the RBI Monetary and Credit Policy for the year 2007-08:

This Statement consists of two parts: Part I. Annual Statement on Monetary Policy for the Year 2007-08; and Part II. Annual Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies for the Year 2007-08.

He also said the city had a long way to go before it could reach the status of a global city, and said that greater autonomy and better governance of the city would ensure the global city status, says the finance minister.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, concerned over the development, has already said that the issue could come up at the meeting of leaders convened by him on April 25 on the eve of the re-convening of the second phase of Budget session.

The number of cases of rupee-denominated bonds being issued outside India may well increase in future.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram's speech.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Union Budget for 2007-08 in Parliament on Wednesday.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad presented the Railway Budget 2007-08 in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

G K Pillai, chairman of India's Board of Approval for SEZs, demystifies SEZs and the controversy surrounding them.

The Bush administration has earmarked $300 million for Pakistan from nearly $300 billion that the White House is seeking from the Congress for the global war on terror.

The Pentagon requisition for payments will have to be made by the secretary of defence in consultation with the secretary of state and the director of the office of management and budget.

The Lenovo chairman is building a new breed of multinational.

With the harvest season just a couple of months away and commodity prices, especially of foodgrain, showing a relentless upward graph