New Delhi, Feb 16 : Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar inaugurated a two-day conference of Vice-Chancellors of the agricultural universities on Monday.

Inaugurating the conference, Pawar said that the Integrated Farming System needs a good fertilizer policy for its support.

"The Integrated Farming System needs a good fertilizer policy for its support, the Government has recently taken a historical decision by moving to nutrient-based pricing and subsidy, and allowing additional cost of fortification and coating of fertilizers to manufactures," Pawar said.

New Delhi, Feb. 16 : US President Barack Obama''s Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, met National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday, and was reportedly briefed about the situation prevailing in South Asia from an Indian perspective.

Holbrooke told reporters here after his meetings that he was in New Delhi to seek the Indian leadership''s assessment of the situation in the region and to brief the latter about his visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced substantial schemes for women and the downtrodden society. He said a Ministry of Minority Affairs would oversee 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities.

"A new Ministry of Minority Affairs and a 15-point programme will be functioning soon for the welfare of minorities," Mukherjee told Parliament.

Of the massive spending projected on social sector schemes that will have an impact on ''Aam Aadmi'' (the Common Man), the Bharat Nirman scheme would get Rs.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Indian Inc on Monday gave mixed reactions to the Interim Budget 2009-10, as proposed by acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said, "It was a completely non-event. It was more like a political statement than an interim budget. There was nothing for any sector, forget about real estate."

Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak expressed similar sentiments, saying: "Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has stuck to what is good convention."

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz took oath on Monday as members of the Rajya Sabha.

While Azad, a former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister took his oath in English, Union Minister for Water Resources Soz took his in Kashmiri.

Both leaders shook hands with other members of the House after the ceremony.

Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister of India in the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh until October 27, 2005, before his appointment as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : The Leader of opposition, L K Advani, on Monday, said that the Congress party has failed in its attempts to support the common man.

"At the end of this Government''s five-year tenure there are people in the top financial brackets who may be happy that they have become multi-millionaires or billionaires, but the Aam Admi (common man) feels badly let down." said Advani.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said that the middle class household budget has gone haywire due to the soaring prices of essential commodities, particularly foodstuffs.