-Newsclick.in Effective tax rate for Big Business in India was 26.3% although statutory rate is 34.6%, according to Budget documents. There is a proposal that corporate taxes should be reduced to 25% from 30%. According to reports, this has been mooted in a report submitted to the finance minister by a panel headed by Akhilesh Ranjan, member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). However, data on corporate taxes put out...

-The Hindu Kerala needs to adopt watershed-based master planning and review building byelaws The unique geography of Kerala, with its steep climbdown from 900m high elevations of the Western Ghats to the coast of Malabar, has resulted in a land with a vast riverine network. There are no less than 44 fast flowing rivers that drain the rainwater Kerala is blessed with into the Arabian Sea. It is a lifeline that supports...

-The Indian Express Mental illness often stems from early-life trauma. It’s happening in Kashmir. When we think of childhood adversity, we imagine the kind of truly horrible stuff which happened to the character of Bobby in the film Judgementall Hai Kya. While I found the film somewhat cringe-worthy, I thought there was at least one figment of a fact which was credible. The protagonist’s mental illness was seeded by the trauma...

-The Hindu The Economic Survey presents an unbalanced view of the technical interventions in MGNREGA A chapter in the recent Economic Survey on the “transformational” impact of Aadhaar on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) merits scrutiny. It presents a skewed and unbalanced view of the programme’s technical interventions instead of taking a comprehensive view of the implementation. The Survey draws heavily from the Indian School of Business’s working...

  During budget presentations, budget documents, which are provided, carry updated data and information related to various departments and ministries of the Central Government such as on revenues, expenditures, deficits etc. Recently economists like Dr. Rathin Roy and Prof. Jayati Ghosh have expressed concerns about the Ministry of Finance for not uploading updated and appropriate budgetary data and figures on the website www.indiabudget.gov.in following the 2019-20 Union Budget presentation by the...