-The Hindu Business Line They milk tax breaks in ways that smaller firms can’t, paying only 23.9% tax on average New Delhi: India’s most profitable companies paid 23.9 per cent tax on an average on their profits for financial year 2016-17, about 10.7 percentage points lower than the statutory rate of 34.6 per cent, helped by a wide range of concessions and INCentives, the latest Budget documents show. These companies, 335 in all,...

-The Economic Times PUNE: The budget allocated Rs 2600 crore for ground water irrigation scheme in 96 deprived irrigation districts. However, water sector activists claim this scheme will blindly INCentivise use of groundwater in unsustainable matter. The Finance Minister announced in his speech: Ground water irrigation scheme under Prime Minister Krishi SINChai Yojna- Har Khet ko Pani will be taken up in 96 deprived irrigation districts where less than 30% of the...

-Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) Union Budget 2018-19 is the fifth and the final full-year budget of the current ruling dispensation. The major plank on which this government was elected in 2014 with an exceptional mandate were issues of development related to reducing corruption, generating meaningful employment opportunities, tackling inflation (especially food inflation, an issue plaguing the economy at that point of time), reducing inequality, and pushing the economy...

-The Financial Express Budget 2018: The government claims that this is the Budget for a “new India”.However, this vision excludes rural workers, small & marginal farmers and the unorganised sector. Many claims are being made about the farm sector. The fact is even the “optics” only partially meet these. The substance of this Budget shows how little it caters to farmers, and the economically & politically marginalised. The demand of farmers agitating...

-The Hindu New unit maps volume of chatter, its nature, user location As Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stood up on Thursday to deliver the Budget speech this year, a real-time monitoring of public online conversations around the word “Budget” was being carried out by a small unit set up by Minister Smriti Irani in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The longer than usual budget speech spawned many talking points and reactions, much...