Paswan quits over Gujarat
New Delhi: Coal and mines minister Ram Vilas Paswan resigned in protest against the government's refusal to remove Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Paswan said he had quit over the Gujarat developments.

With four MPs in the Lok Sabha, the departure of the Lokjana Shakti is unlikely to have a significant effect on the government's chances of winning on the censure motion.
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Finance Bill passed
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, 2002 after finance minister Yashwant Sinha rejected the demand for further rollback of tax proposals.

Replying to the two-day debate on the bill, which seeks to give effect to the direct and indirect tax proposals contained in the Budget, he also ruled out tinkering with income tax rates in future saying tax-GDP ratio will be improved through better compliance and administration.

With the passage of the bill by voice vote after adopting all official amendments moved by the minister and rejecting the opposition amendments, the House has completed the third and last stage of the budget process.

Now the bill as amended will go before the Rajya Sabha which returns it before Presidential assent is sought.
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Two RIL officials jailed
New Delhi: Two top Reliance officials were remanded to judicial custody till 13 May by the chief metropolitan magistrate for violation of the Official Secrets Act.

Soon after, Reliance counsel BR Handa moved bail applications, on behalf of Reliance Group vice-president AN Sethuraman and corporate affairs general-manager Shaker Adawal, before the sessions court. The matter will come up for hearing, before the additional district and sessions judge RK Gauba, on 1 May.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued a non-bailable warrant against group president V Balasubramaniam, returnable by 13 May for failing to appear before the court in connection with the recovery of classified documents from the corporate office in Delhi.
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