Black money probe: Pranab Mukherjee to give details

May 21, 2012

New Delhi, May 21: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to table White Paper on black money in Parliament today, providing information about black money stashed abroad.

The Opposition, led by the BJP, has been targeting the government over the issue. The main Opposition charge is that the government is going slow on probe into black money.

"I will try to give all the relevant and possible information," Mr Mukherjee had earlier said during the debate on Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, while promising to bring the White Paper in the on-going Budget Session.

However, there are also indications that the White Paper may not provide the estimates of the black money stashed overseas as the expert committees appointed by the government to assess the amount of unaccounted money are yet to submit their reports.

"In respect of estimates of black money, three institutions are studying it independently and they will give their reports at the end of an 18-month period, and that period is coming to a close around July or August.

"We have not yet received their reports. I will share that information with you, as soon as I get the reports from those three independent study groups. But the White Paper containing other relevant information will be made available to the members," the minister had said while responding to the issues concerning black money raised by Mr Advani in the Lok Sabha on May 8.

The White Paper, however, is likely to contain the report of an official committee, set up in May 2011, under the chairmanship of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

This was in addition to the independent studies being carried out by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM).

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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