May 5, 2010 9:02 AM

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Parliament passes Finance Bill

Parliament today passed the finance bill for 2010-11, keeping the hike in duties on fuels intact. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha that the present fiscal situation did not permit a roll-back. <br/> <br/>After this, the Upper House returned the Bill to the Lok Sabha, thus completing the nine-week Budget exercise. Mr Mukherjee had in the Budget for 2010-11, raised excise and customs duty on auto fuels to garner 26,000 crore rupees. The hike in duties had resulted in petrol price being increased by 2.71 rupees a litre and diesel by 2.55 rupees per litre. <br/> <br/>Earlier, replying to a debate on the Finance Bill, Mr Mukherjee said, he has already announced a series of tax concessions for various sectors including health and infrastructure. Refuting the opposition allegations, Mr Mukherjee said special care is being taken to ensure that the vulnerable sections of the society are not affected by food inflation and assured the house that there is enough food grains stock. <br/> <br/>He also gave details of measures taken by the government to address price rise. The Finance Minister said that resource mobilization is important for higher allocation of funds for different social sectors, which make the difference in the lives of the common man and it is now for the states and agencies to ensure better outcome. <br/> <br/>Earlier, participating in the discussion the opposition demanded one-rank one-pension scheme for defence personnel, improve the lot of the farming community and taking effective measures to bring back black money into the country. Ruling party members lauded the government for taking several measures to bring down the fiscal deficit.<br/>

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