Shankar Acharya: www.indiabudget 2010-11
Nearly a fortnight has passed since the presentation of the Budget. There has been plenty of intelligent commentary... and some not so intelligent. It’s hard to find something new and worthwhile to say. Indeed, the only justification for this column is the hope (delusion?) that there may be a few loyal readers out there with an interest in my [...]
A K Bhattacharya: No end to this circus
For how many more years will the annual Budget circus continue in its current form? This is a question often asked at post-Budget seminars held across the country every year around this time. Calling the annual Budget a circus has some justification. With tax rates becoming more or less stable, the annual Budget of the Union government is now [...]
Mr Mukherjee’s bad idea
Now that we have said so many good things about Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget, it is time to say some nasty things too. We don’t like the idea of the finance minister chairing a Financial Stability and Development Council. Mr Mukherjee’s Budget speech said the Council would “monitor macro prudential supervision of the economy, [...]
Bharat Jhunjhunwala: Growth rates & Welfare
THE lowest slab of 10 per cent in income tax has been raised from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in the budget. This will provide relief to the small taxpayer. On the whole, the Finance Minister has given relief of Rs 26,000 crore in income tax while he has imposed higher excise duties to the tune of Rs 46,000 crore. The combined effect is that the person [...]
Agriculture & Employment: Two Crucial Segments Ignored Again
By Ashwani Mahajan During the 1990s, eight to 10 per cent of the planned expenditure was on agriculture. Over the past decade, it has reached a low of around 2.5 per cent. Although the government shows concern over agriculture in every budget, such expressions are no more than lip service. Last year, the government spent a meagre sum of Rs [...]
Jandhyala B.G. Tilak: Education in the Union budget
One looks forward to the Finance Minister's budget speech with a hope that it spells some new major initiatives and schemes for development, and that it might promise any major allocation of resources to any sector, besides fresh tax proposals. In the case of education sector, one might feel disappointed at the proposals made in the Union budget [...]
Subramanian Swamy: A crisis and an opportunity ahead
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not like his predecessor. But he is without any soft options today, shackled as he is by the recent past of the Finance Ministry's stewardship. Hence it is no surprise that despite a heroic effort to put together a dynamic budget, he has produced what could at best be termed a damp squib. The global [...]
Jamal Mecklai: Post-Budget – A new paradigm
Budget 2010 went far beyond most recent Budgets in that it defined an entirely new paradigm for the Indian economy. The most important part of the Budget was the Economic Survey, which, more than simply providing the conceptual underpinnings for the Budget, is the document that describes the government’s thoughts and beliefs. It tells us who our [...]
Walk The Talk
In his budget speech, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions posed a challenge to policy planners. He said our public delivery mechanisms prevented the country from realising its true potential. The analysis is spot on. So, how do we fix governance? Transparency and [...]
Abheek Barua: Mind the gaps
Pranab Mukherjee doesn’t do folksy, he doesn’t do big bangs or dream Budgets either. Mercifully, he seems to do prudence, a virtue that warrants a premium these days when governments around the world grapple with the aftermath of the fiscal excesses of stimulus. Thus, despite the obvious negatives in the Budget (higher excise duties and MAT [...]