The Central budget of 2010-11 is a further step in the realisation of a vision of India vibrant with the income, wealth, saving, education and the entrepreneurial energy of the top 5-10 per cent of the population and the rest of Indians, serving that minority and surviving as barely literate, malnourished multitude.  With the accession of Rajiv Gandhi to power, a vision began to germinate. That vision was that of...

Ranchi: It was a budget aimed at sweetening the bitter price rise pill. From cutting down VAT on diesel, sweets and ice- cream to making foodgrains available at Re 1 per kg for the poor, deputy chief minister Raghubar Das today presented an annual budget which focused on rural development, food security and social welfare. Chanting the “inclusive growth” mantra, Das, the BJP face in the Shibu Soren government, showed...

Much of the daylight robbery in the name of Commonwealth Games has been justified in the name of "National Prestige" and "World class aspirations. Whether all these surreptitious measures will eventually deliver the games is an open question? The Commonwealth is a 'friendly' association of those 72 colonies which were once part of the British Empire and rose to free nationhood - some through protracted struggle and others through negotiation. In...

The Planning Commission, the country’s apex planning body, is gradually reconciling to the fact that there would be no large gains in the gross budgetary support (GBS) in budget 2010-11, as the government struggles to reduce fiscal deficit. GBS is the money the Union government allocates to various government programmes through the Union budget. “The major objective of the finance ministry is to bring down the fiscal deficit from 6.8% of...

The convulsions that have gripped the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) — India’s flagship city development programme — with only three years to go for the termination of its assigned lifespan of seven years, is symptomatic of the country’s predilection to put politics above all other issues, including the vital ones. The Mission, aimed at pulling India’s 63 cities out of their dilapidation, which is somewhat reminiscent of...