Token relief to individual taxpayers will cost the exchequer Rs. 4,500 crore In a “pragmatic and domestic growth-oriented” budgetary exercise aimed at shoring up investor confidence and investment, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday sought to tap indirect taxes, especially service tax, to rake in an additional Rs. 45,940 crore into his kitty. Presenting the budget for 2012-13 in Parliament, Mr. Mukherjee provided a token relief to individual taxpayers that will cost...

Nature serves well even when rivers run dry. Students of Government Polytechnic-Nirsa who recently unearthed four artesian wells in a rocky stretch of Dhanbad, will surely vouch for the natural source of water that promises succour as another arid summer looms. The nine final-year civil engineering (diploma) students, under the guidance of senior lecturer of the institute Suresh Prasad Yadav, spotted the four wells in Baliapur block of the district — one...

-The Times of India Fears that policy paralysis will continue after the Congress party's poor show in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections unnerved investors, and the sensex lost 190 points on Tuesday to end the day at 17173, its worst close in six weeks. The trepidation in the markets also affected shares of a few Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Group companies, even though they were actually expected to gain because of the...

Maoist leader Kishan is dead but he has left behind a “ghost village” that even the new Bengal government has been unable to breathe back to life. The story of Salpatra, a village of mostly Muslim families near Jhargram town, is not one of usual black-and-white administrative inaction but of how acts of unspeakable brutality and an element of political mistrust can keep empty an entire village not more than 150km...

Vitamin D deficiency on the rise; tests to identify it inaccurate AIR-CONDITIONED homes and offices and AC vehicles with dark glasses that protect from UV rays are now integral parts of our lifestyle. But by avoiding sunlight by using sunscreens and umbrellas one denies the body an important nutrient—vitamin D. All forms of life exposed to sunlight can produce this vitamin, which plays a vital role in the growth and maintenance of...