New Delhi, Feb 16: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee while presenting an Interim Budget in the Lok Sabha here today said that the emphasis has been given to the empowerment of women as an abiding objective of the UPA Government.

He also announced the launching of two new schemes namely the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme in the current year .

New Delhi, Feb 16 : The Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission approved by the Government has benefited over 4.5 million Central Government Employees including Defence forces and Para-

New Delhi, Feb 16: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the Government proposes to substantially expand the Panchayat Empowerment and the Accountability Scheme (PEAIS) by making suitable allocations in order to empower the Panchayats and put in place accountability systems to make their functioning transparent and efficient.

New Delhi, Feb 16: A number of reforms undertaken by the UPA Government in the last four years has deepened and widened securities market and strengthened the regulatory mechanisms for these markets.

Highlighting the various initiatives taken by the Government, the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in his Interim Budget Speech for the year 2009-2010 in the Lok Sabha today said that systems and practices have been put in place to promote a safe, transparent and efficient market to protect market integrity.

Washington  - US intelligence officials helped India and Pakistan swap top secret intelligence in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The intelligence sharing between the two countries, whose relationship is often shaky at best, was facilitated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) beginning just days after the attacks that killed 170 people over three days.

The Washington Post quoted US and foreign government sources in the story, who acknowledged that those efforts helped clear the way for Islamabad last week to admit that the attacks were partly planned on its soil.

Vadadora, Feb 16: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has taunted Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his remarks over internal elements being involved in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Modi charged the Central Government of being ignorant about the statement of Mumbai Police Chief Hassan Ghafoor that there was an internal involvement in the Mumbai attacks.