-The Indian Express The budget recognises the crisis in rural India, but allocations do not match the talk In India now, there appears to be an inverse relationship between the time finance ministers spend talking about a particular issue in their budget speeches and the amount of money they actually allocate to deal with it. This was true of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget speeches, but incumbent FM Arun Jaitley...
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Pretending to be pro-poor, little change over UPA -Arun Kumar
-The Tribune While giving concessions worth Rs.1,000 crore in the direct taxes paid by the rich, the government plans to net an extra Rs. 19,000 crore in indirect taxes, which are contributed by all. This reveals a regressive intent. Like all Union budgets, this one also is long on promises but hides the real dynamics, namely, how the resources are to be raised for the promised very substantial expenditures. The budget is...
More »Just another trivial Budget -Ashok V Desai
-The Hindu The Finance Minister’s prescriptions are a classic case of being unable to see the wood for the trees, be it on the tax proposals, the rural outreach or the bank bailout. It was a marathon achievement: 12,187 words in 111 minutes. True, there were no interruptions; the Finance Minister virtually sent the House to sleep. I have listened to many Budget speeches; and I cannot say that Dr. Manmohan Singh...
More »Budget 2016: FM Arun Jaitley faces tough task; has to please both farmers, investors
-PTI Budget 2016: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley faces a tough task of balancing the needs of farm sector as well as the industry when he presents his third and challenging Budget tomorrow as he seeks to garner resources to boost public spending for higher growth amid global headwinds. On the income tax front, the Budget may continue with the status quo on the tax slabs while it may tinker with the exemptions. Rising...
More »Drug pricing: a bitter pill to swallow -Feroze Varun Gandhi
-The Hindu Medicines remain overpriced and unaffordable in India. In a country mired in poverty, medical debt remains the second biggest factor for keeping millions in poverty. The international pharmaceutical industry has found its cash cow in India’s beleaguered consumers. With a minimum wage of Rs.250/day for a government worker, a basic wage worker afflicted with a chronic disease like multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis faces penury. His treatment, with drug combinations, which works out...
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