-Outlook As government seeks to roll out the food law, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today sought to raise total subsidies on fuel, food and fertilisers marginally to over Rs 2.46 lakh crore in the 2014-15 fiscal. Government has increased the food subsidy by a whopping Rs 23,000 crore to Rs 1,15,000 crore for 2014-15 fiscal mainly for implementation of the National Food Security law. According to the interim Budget proposals, subsidy bill on...
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Spending on subsidies surged, education and health lagged during 10 years of UPA -Sidhartha
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: When finance minister P Chidambaram presents his first interim budget on Monday, he is expected to devote a significant chunk of his speech - which may be between 12 and 18 pages - to UPA government's spending on social sector schemes, especially health, education and rural development. But what is probably going to slip through is the fact that these sectors actually witnessed a comparatively...
More »A grain of truth in what Gujarat says? Or a poverty of facts?
-The Times of India The Planning Commission periodically revises the poverty line at the all-India and state levels based on large household expenditure surveys of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). These are typically once in five years. The figures of Rs 10.8 per capita per day in Gujarat's rural areas and Rs 16.7 in urban areas are based on the Planning Commission determined state-specific poverty line based on NSSO data for...
More »Pan masala, gutka to cost more as govt raises duty
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Pan masala, gutka and several other tobacco products that are sold in pouches are set to get expensive as the government on Monday increased excise duty in a last-ditch effort to boost revenues. A statement issued by the finance ministry did not specify the extent of increase in excise but said the levy will now be linked to the capacity of production, which has increased due...
More »Unkept promise -TK Rajalakshmi
-Frontline The tussle within some Central government Ministries over proposed cuts in the budget for rural development schemes has affected a promise made to senior citizens. THEIR wizened faces said it all. Though there was disappointment, there was also a glimmer of hope that their trek to the national capital would not go in vain. For almost a month, senior citizens, most of them poor, had been pouring into New Delhi from...
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