-Newsclick.in Major Budgetary allocation cuts in crucial schemes for women, children and vulnerable sections are indicative of the government’s lopsided priorities. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget has helped reinforce one home truth -- that India is divided into the salaried section and a vast underbelly, including the middle class who have been edged into poverty due to job losses suffered during the COVID pandemic. Coming out of the pandemic’s ‘third wave’, issues of...

-The Hindu It would be much easier for the government to provide relief to people if the tax base was wider, says Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, noting that four crore people don’t file returns though the tax department gets some TDS collections on their account. With major customs duty rationalisation done and corporate tax settled, the government hopes to finish some pending reforms in personal income tax and GST, creating a...

-The Hindu Govt. cheating tribal communities, says Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch A tribal rights advocacy group has rued that Budgetary cuts on food subsidy and MNREGA will hurt tribal communities the worst. "Tribal communities have the highest numbers of those malnourished, particularly children and women. Cuts in food subsidies will be disastrous and lead to direct intensification of hunger," said Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) in a press statement. They also say that tribal...

-The Telegraph NREGA Watch finds low funds, delayed wage payment defeating spirit Ranchi: Frustrating Budget allocation, delayed payment of wages and contractors-middlemen-official nexus, among other factors, are defeating the spirit of the rural job scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 in Jharkhand. A report card released on Wednesday by NREGA Watch, an NGO monitoring the scheme in the state, on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of commencement...

-The Telegraph The Union Budget reveals glaring gaps in allocations for education Appearances can be deceptive. On the face of it, education has been allotted Rs 1,04,278 crore — a rise of Rs 11,054 crore from 2021-2022 — in this year’s Budget. However, this still amounts to just above 3 per cent of the gross domestic product, falling far short of the 6 per cent public investment recommended by the National Education...