-The Business Standard In Budget, reformers win, NAC loses The consensus opinion that has developed about the 2012-13 Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday is that it was unambitious, especially in terms of reworking government spending. It delivered little in terms of a vision for reform, the argument goes, constrained as it was by the spending-hungry allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the entitlement-hooked Congress leadership. A...
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Mukherjee’s budget: giving ‘aam aadmi’ a wide berth-Liz Mathew
The common man, whose concerns were at the heart of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s two successful election campaigns, doesn’t seem to be the focus of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget. Experts and political analysts say the aam admi doesn’t appear to be the dominant concern anymore, prompting speculation about Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi’s role. She has thus far been setting the UPA’s social agenda through the National Advisory Council...
More »Why this will be a reform budget-Surjit S Bhalla
Most of us don’t even get a single shot at making history — Manmohan Singh has a second chance The fiscal deficit is an outcome, not a policy. It is the net resolution of the policies pertaining to taxes and expenditure. It is worth analysing separately the two components of the deficit. The table reports the results of relating the tax and expenditure share of GDP to per capita income for...
More »NAC releases draft on social security-Anuja and Remya Nair
The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) has released draft recommendations for a social security package for the country’s unorganized sector, which envisages providing life, disability and health cover, maternity benefits and old-age pension to workers. NAC, in a draft released on 7 March, suggested that the different welfare schemes being run by the ministries of women and child development, health and family welfare, finance and labour and employment should be...
More »Mayawati's wealth doubled to Rs 111.64 crore during her term as chief minister by Ashish Tripathi
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati's assets doubled to Rs. 111.64 crores (approx. $22 million) during her term as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. In her affidavit filed along with the nomination for the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) elections on Tuesday, Mayawati has declared total assets of Rs 111.64 crore, which is more than double of Rs. 52 crore she declared in May 2007 when she contested for the...
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