Venkaiah Naidu

State elections dominated the political landscape in 2017. The BJP had another successful year, spreading its footprint to 19 states.

In yet another report card presented today in the Capital, Minister of Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu highlighted his government's drive on urban transformation.

CNBC-TV18‘s Yash Jain caught up with Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development spoke on the side-lines of the Momentum Jharkhand Summit, where Naidu spoke about land acquisition and the steps taken by the government towards it.

The demonetisation drive is moving towards success because the money that was circulated by The Reserve Bank of India has come back into the system but how much of that is white and how much is black will be known after proper scrutiny, says Union Minister of Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu.

Ruling out the possibility of a roll back, he attacked Mamata Banerjee and said that the West Bengal Chief Minister's demands of a roll back of the decision is only making her "unpopular".

Emphasising that the operations are a "part of the mandate" of the Indian army to "foil any attempts of infiltration" into Indian soil, Naidu said Pakistan has "not walked the talk" on the promise it made in January 2004 that it would not allow its soil to be used for terrorist activities against India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to intervene during the debate on the Bill in Lok Sabha around 6 PM.

"What we need is an optimal (GST) rate," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while addressing a press conference a day after the Rajya Sabha approved the historic Constitution Amendment Bill, paving way for a complete overhaul of the indirect tax regime in the country.

Sources said the Bill will be brought in the Rajya Sabha early next week with the leaders of Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Left parties meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and expressing their approval.

"Spoke to all parties over the past days, everyone is in the mood to further development. Hope Monsoon Session observes high standards of discussions and important decisions are made," Modi said.

"Extradition is the only way to bring him back here, but the extradition process with the UK is very complicated and we are working on the legal process," Union minister Jayant Sinha today said.

Dainik Bhaskar India Pride Awards 2015-2016 crowns public sector undertaking (PSU) giants for their excellence.

The government of Andhra Pradesh at the three-day CII Partnership Summit that began on Sunday in Visakhapatnam aims at attracting foreign investment and turning the state into a manufacturing hub.

Watch accompanying video wherein Jayant Sinha, MoS, Finance, Venkaiah Naidu, Minister, Parliamentary Affairs, Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President and Digvijay Singh, Member, Congress shared their views on the goods and service tax (GST) Bill.

The metro promises quick and convenient mode of public transport and will also help in easing traffic congestion in the city. The 10-km stretched that has been flagged-off connects Koyambedu and Alandur metro stations.

"ADB aims at increasing its sovereign and non-sovereign lending from the present USD 7 billion-USD 9 billion in three years from 2015 to 2017 to USD 10 billion-USD 12 billion between 2016 and 2018 using ADBs expanded lending capacity," he said.

The Budget session of Parliament concluded today with passage of record official business in recent years but the government failed to ensure passage of the controversial Land Acquisition Bill as also key reform measure of GST amid stiff resistance from opposition.

The Minister for Urban Development and Housing further said the initiative would help make the urban life confortable given the large-scale migration taking place from rural areas.

The amendment has run into trouble, with most parties, including allies of the ruling BJP, terming the decision to remove the clause that requires more-than-a-majority approval for land to be acquired for five sectors as 'anti-farmer'.