-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance The plan outlay of 2015-16 reflects the compositional shift in the allocations for various Programmes and Schemes in view of high devolution; 42% of Union Taxes, to States as per the recommendation of 14th Finance Commission. Making his Budget Speech while presenting the General Budget 2015-16, the Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley said that consequent to this substantially higher devolution, many schemes on the State...

-The Hindu FM's Budget speech dwelt on agriculture, public investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and social sector spending. States to be equal partners in economic growth; move to making India cashless society; social sector programmes to continue. Some of the challenges mentioned by the Finance Minister are: poor agricultural income, decline in manufacturing ; and the need for fiscal discipline. Here are sector-wise highlights: TAXATION 1 Abolition of Wealth Tax. 2 Additional 2% surcharge for the super...

-The Indian Express The forthcoming budget is expected by some to be make-or-break or path-breaking, by others, to provide a legislative or economic roadmap for the rest of this government's term. Most likely, it will focus on issues within the purview of the finance ministry, namely, macro management, taxation, expenditure, the financial sector and balance of payments. The abolition of the Planning Commission and the 14th Finance Commission recommendations on tax devolution...

Quite opposite to the top-down model of budgeting, the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party-led Government in Delhi has decided to go for a 'citizen-centric' budget planning at 'mohalla'-level for the fiscal year 2015-16. Drawing lessons from the success stories of participatory budgeting conducted at municipal-level in cities like Porto Alegre (Brazil), the AAP-led Delhi Government has decided to launch this form of decentralized budgeting on a pilot basis in a...

-The Hindu The government's first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action with regard to investing in addressing gender inequality The coming Union budget is significant for at least two reasons: first, this will be the new government's maiden full year budget. Second, with the NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission, the government is likely to abolish the distinction between plan and non-plan budgets. This...