-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 Economic Times NEW DELHI: Investors may be losing sleep over the re-entry of long-term capital gains tax on equities, but analysts feel that the worrylines are actually running deeper than you realise. The mega ambitious healthcare scheme announced in the Union Budget on Thursday is one such point of concern -- which aims to benefit 10 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Sceptics are having a field day,...

-The Indian Express More transparency is needed for Indian society to have an informed debate about rising inequality In a recent study titled ‘Indian income inequality dynamics (1922-2014): From British Raj to Billionaire Raj?’ published on WID.world, we presented new estimates of the distribution of national income in India, from 1922, when the income tax was introduced, up to 2014. In this study, we systematically combine the best available data at hand...

-The Indian Express There are grand promises. But the actual increases in budgetary outlays are shockingly low. This government is especially good at optics, at managing public perceptions to persuade people that it is working for them, rather than doing so. So it is no surprise that Arun Jaitley’s pre-election budget speech went on about how much his government cares for the people, the poor, for farmers, for women, for people...

-The Indian Express Únion Budget 2018: Budget addresses the crises in agriculture. The devil is in the allocations All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. In Anna Karenina, only if a person is satisfied on all counts will she be happy. The allocations in the budget cover every sector, with umpteen implications, and no person’s expectations can be fulfilled on all counts. While every...