ALOK SHARMA
Govt makes it easy for Assuring to reduce poverty by half over the next five years, finance minister Pranab Muherjee on Monday proposed easy terms for loans to farmers
For a loan up to Rs 300,000, a farmer would have to pay 7 per cent interest while the government will make special subvention of 1 per cent to farmers who meet the deadline in re-paying loans

As Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee hoped in his Budget speech, his announcements for exemptions for environment-friendly bio-diesel earned him smiles from environmentalists.

An allocation of Rs 1,770.20 crore for Delhi Metro in the Union Budget is expected to meet projections for Phase II. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which was earlier facing a shortage of funds for this phase and which required the state and Central governments to pitch in, is now expecting the work to be completed by the end of 2010.

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday hailed the Union Budget as a growth-oriented

The space programme has got a Rs 4,959 crore boost, the bulk of it going to fund research in the manned mission programme, cryogenic engines, PSLV and GSLV and space capsule recovery.

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed strong disappointment over the Union Budget, saying the word

The UPA government has attempted to pay back its poll debt to farmers in the first Budget of its second tenure by committing to reduce the interest rate who pay their dues on time by 1%

NEW DELHI: The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on Monday has earmarked Rs.1,770.20 crore for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation which is headed for expansion within the city as well in other parts of the country.

Pranab Mukherjee missed the target by a mile in a bid to, as he said,

The United Progressive Alliance government counts among its successes the high growth rate of 8.5 per cent registered during the last five years and its programmes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) that sought to make that growth inclusive.