India had been in touch with the US administration and US Congress over the issue, said Swaraj. While responding to Congress Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Shukla, who had raised his concerns over the issue on January 4, Swaraj noted that whatever changes had been made were meant to enforce existing rules strictly and to stop the programme's misuse.

At a BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi asked MPs to hold interactive sessions with common people and let them know the budget's provisions, mainly in rural areas where people need to be told about schemes meant for them. Terming the budget a positive one, Modi said it focused on farmers and middle class, and party MPs should target them to counter the "negativity" being spread by the opposition.

In his column for TOI, Srikkanth clubbed Kohli in the same league as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble in terms of commitment to India's cause, but worried what would happen when the captain failed. "There has been enough said and written about Kohli. To me what stands out is his commitment to his own game, team and country," wrote the 58-year-old.

The government's drive, through a non-filer monitoring system, to target those who indulge in high value transactions but don't pay enough taxes has forced the filing of at least Rs 1.7 crore extra returns and helped the Centre mop up close to Rs 26,500 crore till December. Finance minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament that for the past few years, the tax department has been identifying non-filers by tracking in-house information.