From free India’s first budget to IT Reforms: How they marked country’s economic turning points
India’s budget has seen various phases of economic changes since it was first drafted by the independent government in 1947. Its evolution from a simple record of income and spending into a powerful tool for reform, crisis response, and institutional transformation has shaped India’s growth.
Union Budget 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman breaks with 75-year-old tradition, what’s changing?
In her first Union Budget in 2019, Sitharaman had replaced the leather briefcase — which had been in use for decades for carrying Budget documents — with a more traditional ‘bahi-khata’ wrapped in a red cloth.
‘Trashy ruminations’: India issues statement after PM Modi mentioned in latest Epstein files
The government statement came after Congress leader Pawan Khera said in a social media post that it was a “national shame” that Epstein had written about the Indian PM in an email. In his post, the opposition leader had also sought a clarification from the government.
Unearthed photo of Swalwell meeting with top CCP official raises alarm bells: ‘Very disturbing’
FIRST ON FOX: A previously unreported 2013 Facebook post by China’s San Francisco consulate shows then-freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., touting “great potential” for U.S.-China cooperation during a meeting with a senior CCP diplomat, which came during the same time period when Swalwell was allegedly targeted by Chinese espionage efforts. The 2013 photo, which was unearthed by Fox News Digital and “liked” by Christine “Fang Fang” Fang, a Chinese national who was suspected of being a Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative and who was reportedly working closely with Swalwell’s campaign helping with fundraising, showed Swalwell posing with Song Ru’an. At the time of the photo, Ru’an was the Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area consulate in San Francisco. He would subsequently be tapped to serve as the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Hong Kong until at least 2021. “The United States and China have a lot in common and the two economies are highly complementary. There are great potential for the two countries to cooperate,” Swalwell said at the meeting according to the picture’s caption posted by the Chinese consulate. “I will work actively to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and I’m looking forward to visiting China in the near future.” SWALWELL PROMISES IF ELECTED GOVERNOR, FORMER ICE AGENTS WOULD BE ‘UN-HIRABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA The unearthed photo comes a couple of weeks after Fox News Digital reported on a California-based law partner for a Beijing law firm donating thousands of dollars to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. Like Keliang “Clay” Zhu, Ru’an has a history of supporting interests contrary to American priorities. Ru’an served as one of China’s leading officials in Hong Kong between 2015 and 2021, and was a vocal critic of a 2019 U.S. Human Rights and Democracy Act aimed at protecting Hong Kongers from China’s authoritarian crackdown on its dissidents that only a single Republican member of Congress voted against. Ru’an blasted the bill at the time as the “the epitome of hegemony” and warned it went against American interests, according to the South China Morning Post. Ru’an also reportedly slammed the moves as a “negative and disgraceful role” the U.S. was playing in China’s domestic issues. Ru’an emerged as a central figure in Hong Kong during China’s national security crackdown there that began boiling over in 2020, 2021 and subsequent years. According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Ru’an told foreign media outlets to “inject positive energy” into coverage about new extradition laws China was imposing on Hong Kong in 2019. Multiple briefings from both previous and subsequent years showed similar efforts by Ru’an to “guide” media coverage in favor of China. In 2018, he met with members of the American media to discuss how the “One Country, Two Systems” framework between Hong Kong and China is vital to U.S.-China trade relations. SWALWELL GOVERNOR BID HIT WITH RESIDENCY QUESTIONS AFTER COURT FILING ALLEGES HE DOESN’T LIVE IN CALIFORNIA Prior to Ru’an’s work on behalf of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, while serving as Deputy Consulate General at China’s San Francisco consulate, public reports said Ru’an and other consular officials sent letters and traveled to Oregon in an attempt to prevent the creation of a mural highlighting China’s human rights abuses against Tibetan people. Prior to working in San Francisco, Ru’an held multiple CCP roles back in China, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Swalwell’s team declined to provide any comment for this story. The San Francisco Chinese Consulate did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. “It’s bad enough that certain California special interests are pushing redistributionist tax policies straight out of a communist manifesto. Now one of the state’s leading gubernatorial candidates has been caught cozying up to the Communist Chinese Party again,” GOP strategist Colin Reed said. “California’s next governor needs to have the intelligence, judgment and character to stand up to the CCP, especially when it comes to empowering American innovators with a common sense regulatory environment that allows them to grow.” “I know first hand what it’s like to live under a communist regime. One-party rule by an authoritarian Communist Party: that’s not theoretical for me, and for years I have expressed my disgust at the establishment strategy of ‘engaging’ with the communist regime in China in the hope that this would one day move them towards freedom and democracy,” Republican California gubernatorial candidate and Former Fox News host Steve Hilton told Fox News Digital. “These people never give up power voluntarily and they are always on the look-out for the ‘useful idiots’ and gullible stooges who they can target with their influence operations. Seems like they found the perfect mark in Eric Swalwell, and it’s somewhat alarming that the poor judgment is still being repeated, as we learned with the recent revelations about CCP-linked donations to his campaign,” he added. EX–NEW YORK STATE OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR CHINA CALLED HOCHUL ‘MORE OBEDIENT’ THAN CUOMO, TRIAL REVEALS Swalwell served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) when news broke of his ties to Fang Fang, who “liked” the photo posted in 2013 of Swalwell and Ru’an. Swalwell’s role on the influential intel committee was one that dealt with sensitive national security matters other members of Congress are not privy to. Now, he is asking voters to elevate him to governor of a state at the center of U.S.-China trade and tech. Earlier that same year, Swalwell attended an event hosted by the California State University, East Bay Chinese Student Association, a group that was led by Fang Fang, to celebrate the Chinese New Year. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Beijing uses diplomats and influence networks like the United Front to cultivate relationships with American politicians, making even routine-looking interactions politically combustible when they involve a lawmaker already shadowed by foreign-influence scrutiny. “Swalwell met Fang Fang when he was on the city council. He continued a long relationship with
From Obama award to Minnesota op: Why Trump tapped Tom Homan for on-the-ground crackdown
Minneapolis is the Trump administration’s latest immigration flashpoint — and a familiar figure is on the ground, taking command of the federal operation after two fatal shootings and days of agitators sparking heightened protests in the Twin Cities. Border Czar Tom Homan, a career law enforcement official with more than four decades in immigration enforcement, has worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations — including formal recognition during the Obama era. Allies say that résumé undercuts any claims he’s a partisan operator and makes him an ideal choice to take the lead in Minneapolis. “Tom Homan is a decorated career law enforcement professional whose service has spanned multiple presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic. He is a no-nonsense American patriot who is dedicated to making his country better. So I have every bit of confidence that Tom is the right person for the job,” America First Legal president Gene Hamilton said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “People know exactly who they are dealing with when they deal with Tom Homan. He’s a known entity,” Hamilton continued. BEHIND THE SCENES: TRUMP AND WHITE HOUSE RALLY BEHIND NOEM AS ‘RADICALS’ DEMAND OUSTER Hamilton worked on immigration policy during Trump’s first term and alongside Homan, and he told Fox News Digital that Homan is the right fit to oversee the Minnesota operation because of his law-and-order approach and record across administrations. Hamilton is now president of America First Legal, after previously working as Trump’s deputy White House counsel during the first half of 2025. Homan was deployed to the Gopher State on Monday, effectively replacing Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, and is reporting directly to President Donald Trump as he takes the helm of the administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. His leadership over the operation follows a pair of high-profile shootings involving federal law enforcement that left two Americans dead, and Democrats calling the deaths “murder” while pointing to ICE as a modern-day “Gestapo.” “Tom Homan is a patriot with decades of experience effectively protecting American communities and deporting criminal illegal aliens,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said when asked about Homan taking the helm of the mission. WHY TRUMP SENDING TOM HOMAN TO MINNESOTA IS A STROKE OF ABSOLUTE GENIUS A White House official told Fox News Digital amid the Minnesota leadership shakeup that the administration “has not wavered” from its mission to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, with one official saying that Trump wanted to prevent further violence and work with state and local leaders to remove public safety threats. Democrats have slammed the broader ICE crackdown as heavy-handed, calling for investigations and tighter restrictions on enforcement tactics after agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by law enforcement this month. Senate Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has echoed that criticism, calling what’s unfolding in Minnesota “appalling” and pressing for new oversight and guardrails on ICE’s conduct as the Trump administration insists the mission remains unchanged and focused on law and order. “The Trump Administration will never waver in standing up for law and order and protecting the American people,” Jackson added in her comment on Homan. Homan launched his federal law enforcement career in 1984 as a Border Patrol agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was abolished after 9/11 and replaced with the Department of Homeland Security. His rise through the ranks of federal law enforcement included former President Barack Obama tapping him to lead ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in 2013. Hamilton continued that Homan is not a partisan actor, but focused on delivering lawful deportation results – as he’s done for a Democrat administration. “Tom Homan’s mission is not partisan. It’s not political,” Hamilton continued in his comments on Homan. “The only people who are making it political are the officials in Minnesota who have turned this into a rallying cry for agitators, who are more committed to rioting and impeding federal law enforcement in the streets of Minneapolis than, quite frankly, anything we’ve seen In recent history.” Chad Wolf, acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during President Trump’s first term, authored an op-ed for Fox News Digital that described Trump tapping Homan to oversee the operation as a “stroke of absolute genius.” “Homan is not a political firebrand looking for headlines. He is a career law enforcement professional, with over 30 years of experience at ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, who understands the operational realities of immigration enforcement,” Wolf wrote. “Sending him to Minnesota is not about provocation; it is about restoring coherence to a situation that has grown dangerously fragmented.” DHS data show deportations surged under Obama, including a record 438,421 removals in fiscal year 2013, fueling a “deporter in chief” label activists used to describe the 44th president. In 2016, Obama awarded Homan the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service, an honor recognizing leaders who produce “sustained extraordinary results.” “Thomas Homan deports people. And he’s really good at it,” the Washington Post wrote in an article at the time reporting on the award. “Homan is the Washington bureaucrat in charge of rounding up, detaining and kicking illegal immigrants out of the country,” the article continued. “As Americans fight over whether the next president should build a wall on the Mexico border to keep migrants out or protect millions of them from deportation, Homan is actually hunting undocumented immigrants down right now, setting strategy for 8,000 officers on the front lines.” DAVID MARCUS: SPURNING TRUMP MEANS MAYOR JACOB FREY OWNS MINNEAPOLIS MESS Fast-forward to that campaign cycle electing Trump to his first term, Homan was again tapped to help tackle immigration for the Republican president’s administration, serving as the acting director in 2017 and 2018. Now, the border czar is vowing he won’t leave the Twin Cities “until the problem is gone.” Homan publicly suggested that ICE could pull back from direct action in the community if local leaders allow federal agents access to jails to take custody of removable immigrants in a controlled setting, a proposal
NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s first reaction to Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra swearing in as Maharastra Deputy CM: ‘Not aware’
NCP chief Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar is set to take oath as Maharahstra’s Deputy CM today at around 5 pm. This decision was taken after the utimely demise of Ajit Pawar in a tragic plane crash. Ajit Pawar’s uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has reacted to Sunetra’s Pawar soon to be swearing in as Deputy CM and said that he was not aware of this decision.
Delhi Horror: Video of injured 12-year-old sent to mother before stepfather beats him to death
A 12-year-old boy was found dead with severe injuries in northeast Delhi’s Shastri Park. Police suspect his stepfather, Wajid Khan, in the murder. The boy’s mother received a disturbing video showing her son injured before his death. Investigations are ongoing, with Khan believed to be on the run.
Meet Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar elected as NCP Legislature leader, set to become Maharashtra’s first female Deputy CM
Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar has been elected as the NCP leader by the leaders of the legislative assembly. She is set to take oath as the first female Deputy CM of Maharashtra at 5 PM.
Who is Awadhesh Kumar Pathak? Retired IAF officer shot by two armed assailants at restaurant in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, motive remains unknown
A retired Indian air force officer was allegedly shot by unidentified assailants at his restaurant in Sushant Golf City area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. The victim identified as Awadhesh Kumar Pathak got injured when two armed men opened fire at him on January 30 at around 10: 30 pm.
Meet FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband, Parakala Prabhakar, fearless economist and staunch BJP critic
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband is a notable economist and political analyst, has greatly contributed to her economic outlook. He has always been a staunch BJP critic who even called PM Modi a dictator.