P Chidambaram, Home Minister
Mukherjee's budget speech captures the exciting story of growth over the first four years of the UPA Government; the determination and resilience with which the Government has navigated the current difficult year; and, above all, the confidence and the 'can do' spirit with which we can look forward to the future.
Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister and currently in charge of the finance portfolio
Extraordinary economic circumstances merit extraordinary measures. Now is the time for such measures. Our Government decided to relax the FRBM targets, in order to provide much needed demand boost to counter the situation created by the global financial meltdown.