-Live Mint Move may help the Congress renew its appeal to a traditional constituency; activists raise objections In yet another move that the ruling Congress Party hopes will help renew its appeal to a traditional constituency, the ministry of rural development has indicated it is likely to accept the recommendations of a panel that has suggested the universalization of pensions. The task force headed by Planning Commission member Mihir Shah was set up...

-The Hindu “The purpose of a Budget – and the job of a Finance Minister,” P. Chidambaram declared in his speech, “is to create the economic space and find the resources to achieve the socio economic objectives.” Now that the presentation of and the spate of initial responses to the budget are behind us, it may be appropriate to ask how far the Minister went in accomplishing his self-defined task. Mr. Chidambaram...

-The Asian Age Sonia Gandhi’s economic and political ideology may have apparently triumphed over that of Manmohan Singh. The neo-liberal finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram may be conveying an impression that he’s turned socialist with a vengeance by increasing taxes on the rich in the run-up to the 16th general elections. But the truth is that Mr Chidambaram has made certain assumptions about subsidies, inflation and the expected growth of gross domestic product...

-CNN-IBN Finance Minister P Chidambaram plans to get more income for the government by taxing the super-rich and the corporate sector even though he left untouched income tax rates and slabs. Chidamabaram allowed some relief for those who earn between Rs 2-5 lakh per year by announcing that they would be granted a tax credit of Rs 2000 and left most of the items untouched by not tinkering too much with...

-The Economic Times It is consoling that despite a deficit of 8% in south-west rainfall during 2012-13 compared to its long period average (LPA), agriculture's contribution to GDP growth is likely to be around 1.8%. It is also good news that the revised figure of agri-GDP for the 11th Plan as a whole is 3.6%, up from 3.3% estimated earlier. Gross capital formation in agriculture as a percentage of agri-GDP has almost...