-The Hindu The budget focuses on rural development with a moderate hike in allocation, but the government has downsized in a big way the Importance of its flagship programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), on which it reportedly galloped to power in 2009. For the scheme entitling jobs to below poverty line (BPL) households in rural areas, the allocation has been reduced by 17.5 per cent to only...
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Downward slide in the summer of our discontent-Sitaram Yechury
An opportunity has been forsaken to strengthen our economic fundamentals while improving the lives of the people, increasing the divide between India Shining and India Suffering. While the people were hoping for relief in the current budget, the Finance Minister was faced with the task of reversing the slowing growth rate and raging inflation. He had a choice in this budget. He, however, chose a path that is going to worsen...
More »Aadhaar gets govt backing, FY13 outlay at Rs 1,450 cr
-The Business Standard The Union Budget for 2012-13 today reinforced the Importance of Uniquie Identification programme, as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved an outlay of around Rs 1,450 crore for Aadhaar. Finance Minister also increased the rollout target for Aadhaar card to an additional 400 million people. The enrolments into the Aadhaar system have already crossed 200 million. “The Aadhaar platform is now ready to support the payments of MGNREGA; old age,...
More »Subsidy bill reduction target ‘ambitious’-Aman Malik
The government plans to cut its subsidy bill to under 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012-13, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his budget speech on Friday. High crude oil prices and burgeoning fertilizer subsidies, primarily on account of Imported non-urea fertilizers, have meant India’s subsidy bill has zoomed to Rs2.16 trillion, or 2.5% of the GDP. Mukherjee has set an ambitious target to reduce this to under 1.75%...
More »Vodafone-Hutch deal: Retrospective change to I-T Act-Nikhi Kanekal and Kian Ganz
The government introduced a retrospective clarification to the Income-Tax (I-T) Act, 1961, virtually amending the law to ensure that cross-border transactions such as the $11.08 billion (around Rs55,735 crore today) Vodafone-Hutchison deal are taxable. The Supreme Court had ruled this deal as not being taxable in India. The amendment becomes crucial because a review petition by the government on this case is pending before the Supreme Court, which might now have...
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