New Delhi, Feb 18 : The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 25 minutes on Wednesday after Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) lawmakers raised a hue and cry over remarks made by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee had stated in the house that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has caused "much damage" to the Tamil community and it should lay down arms.

New Delhi, Feb 17 : Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader and prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani on Tuesday generously praised Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and wondered what the UPA Government would have done without him.

Officiating finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's Interim Budget for 2009-10 has provided for a six-month extension of the interest subsidy scheme, for exporters' loans taken in the labor-intensive sectors.

The announced extension of the 2 percent interest subsidy scheme - for small and medium enterprises as well as long-established export areas, like leather, textiles, marine products, gems and jewellery - will be costing the exchequer nearly Rs 500 crore in 2009-10.

India emerged as best investment destination for investors despite global financial crisis and recessionary waves across the world, recording 45 per cent increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the period between April and December 2008 against the same period last year.

Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, while addressing parliament during presentation of interim budget, said that the country have strong economic fundamentals and it GDP growth rate of 7.1 percent, for the current financial year, makes it as the second fastest growing economy of the world.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : The political parties on Monday gave mixed reactions to the Interim Budget 2009-10, as proposed by acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Union Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, "The economy will kick-start with the whatever expenditure it has and once this money reaches the people they will spend it and once they spend it money will start flowing in the market and with that the economy will improve and that is the idea of this interim budget."

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, blamed the Central Government for `doling out lollypops' and said the budget was silent on the concerns of common man, which was the poll plank of the Congress party.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced substantial schemes for women and the downtrodden society. He said a Ministry of Minority Affairs would oversee 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities.

"A new Ministry of Minority Affairs and a 15-point programme will be functioning soon for the welfare of minorities," Mukherjee told Parliament.

Of the massive spending projected on social sector schemes that will have an impact on ''Aam Aadmi'' (the Common Man), the Bharat Nirman scheme would get Rs.