-The Indian Express A cut in personal income tax or GST slabs would have spurred the economy more in the short term but the corporate tax cut is beneficial for the economy in the long term. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement to cut corporate tax rates on Friday morning was a welcome surprise for the Indian economy that has been struggling with growth deceleration. According to reports, the government has cut the...

-Livemint.com Public programs like MGNREGA are less successful in raising wages in regions characterized by historical inequality, finds new study When it was launched in 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was envisaged to boost rural economies by providing the rural poor with 100 days of guaranteed public employment and raising rural wages. But its intended benefits may have eluded those who needed them the most, a new...

-The Hindu The over-reliance on the organised sector for official GDP data is causing a gross MIScalculation. During the global financial crisis, it was said that the experts were behind the curve. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and financial sector experts continued to predict till October 2008 that the global economy would grow rather than shrink. They were way off the mark since the global economy was rapidly slipping into a great...

-The Telegraph Around 350 families have refused to vacate apartments constructed in violation of Coastal Regulatory Zone rules Bangalore: Politicians of all hues are making a beeline to a clutch of plush waterfront apartments in Kerala as the clock ticks on a demolition deadline set by the Supreme Court. The issue has raised wider questions: whether a state government that insisted on enforcing in letter and spirit a court order that lifted a...

-Livemint.com * Scheme for reMISsion of duties of taxes on export products will replace Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) scheme, said FM * The new scheme which will benefit all products including textiles is more beneficial to the industry, the minister said at a briefing Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a slew of measures including a new attractive scheme to refund the duties and taxes on exports that will replace...