-The Times of India Many feel the Budget is positive for the education sector, with good amounts allocated to higher education and school education exempted from service tax Pranab Mukherjee, finance minister, presented the Union Budget for the year 2012-13 on Friday, with reference to the state of the global economy and its impact on India. The Budget seems positive for the education sector, with good amounts allocated to higher education and...

Home minister P. Chidambaram has set a two-year deadline for completing the National Population Register (NPR). In a release today, his ministry said the register was “likely to be” completed by March 2014, the statement coming a day after the Union budget announced that the Aadhaar platform was ready to support payments for projects like the rural job scheme. Aadhaar, a project of the Planning Commission, is the unique number meant for...

An opportunity has been forsaken to strengthen our economic fundamentals while improving the lives of the people, increasing the divide between India Shining and India Suffering. While the people were hoping for relief in the current budget, the Finance Minister was faced with the task of reversing the slowing growth rate and raging inflation. He had a choice in this budget. He, however, chose a path that is going to worsen...

The government introduced a retrospective clarification to the Income-Tax (I-T) Act, 1961, virtually amending the law to ensure that cross-border transactions such as the $11.08 billion (around Rs55,735 crore today) Vodafone-Hutchison deal are taxable. The Supreme Court had ruled this deal as not being taxable in India. The amendment becomes crucial because a review petition by the government on this case is pending before the Supreme Court, which might now have...

West Bengal is likely to simplify Restrictive laws on land ownership, making it easier for industrial estates to sell surplus land. The state’s land ceiling laws cap private ownership of land at 24 acres, and there were Restrictions on transfer of land held under exemption from the threshold. The new policy, which is expected to be ratified by the state cabinet on Friday, would allow companies to transfer even leasehold land given...