Deficit Budget in Meghalaya
SHILLONG, June 23: Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Finance Dr Mukul Sangma today placed the Budget estimate of the State for the current fiscal that is expected to close with a deficit of Rs 400,31,25,640.
Search Results
-
-
Govt plan: fuel, farm subsidy as direct cash transfers
The government plans to provide kerosene, cooking gas and fertiliser subsidy to the poor by direct cash transfers on a pilot basis before the end of the current calendar year, 2011. For the current year, according to Budget documents, petroleum and fertiliser subsidies add up to Rs 53,000 crore. The Finance Ministry today set up a task force under Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Iden
-
Chemical industry needs more explorers
Consumer-connect, sustainable strategies and adopting new technologies can salvage the sector from its faceless existence INSTITUTIONS make choices at forks on their journey and embark on distinctive trajectories. The choice made is influenced by its culture and mindset.
-
Tk 1,018 cr for gas, oil exploration
The government is likely to allocate Tk 1,018 crore for Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for exploration of gas and oil fields and development of existing gas distribution pipeline to provide better services to clients. It will be a component of the annual development programme (ADP) for next fiscal. The allocation will be Tk 228.97 crore higher than that of the ongoing ADP budget.
-
Carbon tax on kerosene oil, diesel may be abolished: Hina
State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar on Saturday said that the government is considering to abolish carbon surcharge levied on kerosene oil and diesel in the recent budget. Briefing Senators in the upper house, she said that members from both Senate and National Assembly have expressed serious concern over the issue.
-
NTPC to be Bamnauli project consultant
Despite no budget allocation for the Bamnauli power project in the current financial year 2010-2011, the Delhi Government is all set to appoint NTPC as Project Management Consultant for the Pragati Power Project phase II (750 mw-800 mw) at Bamnauli.
-
Dont launch any new schemes, cut oil subsidies: PMs advisor Rajan tells Govt
With just about a month to go for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to present the Budget for 2011-12, Honorary Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of India Raghuram Rajan said the government must take a hard look at subsidies, particularly petroleum subsidies, pull back on government demand, stop expanding big programmes and definitely not launch any new ones.
-
CM demands more rly projects for NE
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has requested Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee for inclusion of a slew of projects in the Railway Budget for the year 2011-12. In a letter to the Railway Minister, Gogoi requested Banerjee for new lines for strengthening the Railway infrastructure in the Northeast and Assam, which include a new railway line from Salona to Khumtai and Jorhat to Sivasagar for creatin
-
Good on paper, but lacking quite a bit on ground
The Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) is one flagship programme of the UPA government where the entire budgeted allocation of Rs 33,000 crore has been committed, but the desired result is still elusive. RGGVY, a component of Bharat Nirman, was launched in April 2005 with a mandate to electrify 100,000 villages and release electricity connections to 2.3 crore rural BPL households i
-
Hybrid dreams and renewable nightmares BY
So we learn from the Budget presentation of the finance minister that India is planning to launch a National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
-
A government in denial
Cannot wish ecological poverty away
-
Keeping Mars clean
European Space Agency (ESA) officials are heaving a sigh of relief following a report from the US National Research Council that says probes landing on Mars need not be sterilised if they are not
-
Ecotax policy rejected
the French government's plan to introduce ecological tax reforms got a serious blow on December 28, 2000, when the country's constitutional court rejected a planned industrial energy tax. The
-
After the People met
The Union ministry of home affairs wants to know: what is the Meghalaya government going to do about the People s Budget ?
-
Waste management strewn with unkept promises
The allocation for SWM between 2002 and 2007 was Rs.48.85 crore; but expenditure only Rs.13.8 crore The Chennai Corporation has a long history of making promises for improved solid waste management practices (SWM), which are rarely fulfilled (see infographic ). The local body's budget allocation for SWM between 2002 and 2007 has been Rs.48.85 crore and actual expenditure for the period is about Rs.13.8 crore
-
Auto industry sees positive impact
The Budget has evoked mostly a positive response from the automobile industry. About large cars: The General Motors India President, Mr Karl Slym, has said the company expected duty reductions for all types of cars. "Generally, it is all right. We have heard about national highways programme but we are yet to get the details. Large cars (which attract excise duty) at 24 per cent are left out. That is a bit of disappointment.' Positive for the sector: Mr Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director of auto-parts company Bharat Forge said input cost reduction and lower project import duties are a positive for the sector. "Scrap duty has been an area of concern for the auto component industry and (the fact) that this has been reduced is also good news,' he said. Not hurting: The Sona's group's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Surinder Kapur, termed the Budget an election year Budget but one which had not hurt the industry. Using-up stocks: While lauding the proposals, the Kinetic Group's Chairman, Mr Arun Firodia, said dealers have stocks purchased at a higher rate of excise duty. When these stocks are exhausted there would be a reduction in prices, he said. Rekindling interest: Mr Ajit Rai, Managing Director of Suprajit Engineering, which makes auto components, said the duty reductions will rekindle consumer interest to buy cars. He said reduction in customs duty on scrap should moderate price increases in steel and aluminium, which has seen a big run up. Softening effect on input cost: Mr V. Mahadevan, Managing Director of Ennore Foundries, said the duty cuts will have a positive impact on the growth of the manufacturing industries. "Removal of custom duty on scrap import will have a softening effect on the input cost of raw materials,' he said. Demand trigger: The Managing Director of Aditya Auto Products & Engineering Pvt Ltd, Mr C. Jayaraman, said the duty reduction would not help the auto component industry directly, since the savings have to be passed on to the customers immediately. Small car hub: The Managing Director of Liners India Ltd, Mr S. Ganesh, pointed out that the Budget was on the same lines of the Automotive Mission Policy and the country was set to become a major hub for small cars.
-
AIDWA hails focus on agrarian crisis
The All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has hailed Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's initiative of taking cognisance of the huge agrarian crisis and taking steps to bring relief to farmers, who include a large number of women also. In a statement, Subhashini Ali, president, and Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary of the AIDWA, said the measures for debt waiver and debt relief did not, however, address the critical issue of loans taken from private moneylenders. Secondly, many regions in the grip of crisis such as Vidharbha and Rayalaseema were dry land, where individual holdings were usually more than two hectares, eligible for relief. The crucial question of reduction in the rate of interest to 4 per cent on agricultural loans was ignored. Finally, it was not just debt relief but rejuvenation of the entire agricultural sector through a massive increase in public spending that would alleviate this crisis, the statement said. After four years, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government heeded to the voice of lakhs of anganwadi employees but their demand for an increase in wages was met only partially. Secondly, the budget did not reflect the allocations for universalisation of the Integrated Child Development Services and make 14 lakh anganwadi centres functional by the end of 2008 as per a Supreme Court directive, especially at a time when child malnourishment and infant mortality continued to remain high. Given the huge increase in the prices of essential commodities, especially wheat, rice, pulses, it was expected that the budget would suggest measures to curb inflation, which was exacerbated by the recent increase in fuel prices. Food security The statement said the UPA gave an undertaking in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) to strengthen the public distribution system and move towards universalising it. However, the meagre increase in the food subsidy allocation from Rs. 31,456 crore last year to Rs. 32,667 crore was hardly adequate to ensure basic food security for more than 70 per cent of the population that lived below poverty line. "This cannot meet the needs of food-deficit States such as Kerala, as well as States that were adversely affected by the recent cuts in allocations of foodgrains,' it said. The allocations for health and education remained far below the targets set in the CMP and the decision to shift the burden of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to the States showed the lack of commitment of the Centre to implement the constitutional guarantee of right to education. "As far as gender budgeting is concerned, we welcome the fact that more Ministries had provided a gender budget analysis of their expenditure,' the statement added.
-
The political economy of Budget
Support for further economic reforms in the context of India's globalisation will be mustered more easily if the deprived sections are assured of some safety net, says M K Venu FINANCE minister P Chidambaram's fifth budget stumped the chattering classes, mostly with incomes of well over Rs 10 lakh a year. The Rs 10-lakh income threshold is relevant because there are less than 300,000 people in India showing a taxable income of Rs 10 lakh and above. But they exercise disproportionate influence on policy. There are many more in the above income category, who do not pay taxes and probably have even greater influence on public policy! The budget also stumped economists, who are also part of the chattering classes. Initially they did not know what to make of a budget that seemed to give everything to everybody. The budget certainly did not lend itself to instant analysis on television channels where many economic pundits were sitting. In the first flush, one economist simply said he was overwhelmed, and didn't know how the numbers would work after so much goodies were handed out by the finance minister. "I am overwhelmed', is what he kept saying. The impatient TV anchor, obviously looking for a one liner, kept pressing, 'Is it good or bad?'. The only reply was,' I am overwhelmed.' It didn't take long for everyone to realise that it is not necessary for numbers to strictly add up in politics. In certain situations, sentiment and psychology can subsume numbers that don't add up. Which is why politics is often described as the art of the possible. While economics parades as an exact science, there are times when economists get lost in their linear frameworks and miss the wood for the trees. Further, what really stunned the chattering classes was someone like Dr Manmohan Singh or P Chidambaram could come up with such a massive loan waiver package. They associated such acts with politicians like the late Devi Lal, Charan Singh or among contemporaries, Prakash Singh Badal and M Karunanidhi. How could Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram do this, was the main question on their lips. However, at the end of the day the budget seemed to have got overwhelming support, if one went by how the vernacular press treated the finance minister's announcements. Politically, it is one of the sharpest statements one has come across in the past decade and a half. Chidambaram's dream budget in 1997 too had a mesmeric impact on the people but this one covers a much wider terrain in its inclusiveness, whatever critics may carp about. It took a while for the immensity of the political statement to sink into the BJP leaders. Initially some leaders tried to attack the Rs 60,000 loan waiver as irresponsible. Later, possibly after deeper consultations within the BJP leadership, it was decided to tone down the attack. The politics of it was visible even in Parliament when Chidambaram said only kulak landlords will oppose loan waivers for small farmers holding up to two hectares of land. The invocation of kulak landlords has an interesting dimension. Politically, it is significant that the Congress is attempting to wean the poorest among the backward caste, scheduled castes and minorities away from regional parties that have established themselves over the years. This would easily rank as among the most audacious attempts by the Congress to upset the present political arithmetic of various strong regional parties. If viewed in this perspective, it becomes easy to understand why considerations such as fiscal profligacy and misplaced budget assumptions do not stand a chance. In any case, of late, a feeling had developed in non-urban India that the country was reaping the riches of globalisation, in terms of mounting forex reserves, high corporate profits, and government revenues doubling in three years. IN SUCH a situation it becomes difficult to convince the other India that fiscal belt tightening is the way to go. Besides, this would be most hypocritical as even anecdotal evidence would suggest that the bulk of the growing government subsidies today are consumed by the urban middle class. Just take the Rs 71,000-crore energy subsidy. Over 80% of it must be going to the urban middle class. The finance minister has also been careful in not going overboard while opening the purse strings. He has kept enough head-room in his fiscal deficit target to ensure that some discipline remains. For instance, he has budgeted fiscal deficit at 2.5% of GDP, when he could have kept a target of 3% as per the FRBM timeline. He can technically spend extra about 0.5% of GDP or Rs 20,000 crore, without violating the FRBM Act. In fact, the expenditure on loan waiver in the first year could be no more than Rs 20,000 crore. Operationally, the waiver of Rs 60,000 crore will occur over three years. More interestingly, much of the write-offs will happen among loans which are already sitting as non-performing assets (NPAs) in banks. So the bank books will get cleaned up to that extent. In lieu of the write-offs, the banks could receive government bonds which they could liquidate in the market or sell to the Reserve Bank of India. True, this may constitute another offbalance sheet borrowing by the government. Even after taking some of the off-balance sheet items, heavens won't fall if the fiscal deficit moves up to 4% of GDP. What is the great sanctity to the 3% figure, one fails to understand. Both oil and food subsidies today are being enjoyed across the board by urban and rural India, and these subsidies have helped to keep food prices under control. It is difficult to imagine the political class surviving if the price of wheat in India were to track international trend. Global wheat prices have doubled in the past year. The price of other mass consumption items such as edible oil too has been maintained at lower than international price. Bad economics, but good for collective survival. So current circumstances in the global economy are exceptional and the budget has done well to admit that there are off-balance sheet subsidies whose value is growing by the day on account of rising global prices. Finally, support for further economic reforms in the context of India's globalisation will be mustered more easily if the deprived sections are assured of some safety net. The benefit of all this will eventually accrue to the growing aspirational middle class. This perspective must not be lost sight of. After all, it is in the interest of the emerging bourgeoisie to keep the present system alive and ticking.
-
Wait over, Mineral Policy gets Cabinet nod
The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave approval in principle to the long-awaited National Mineral Policy. The new policy is likely to attract foreign direct investment to the tune of $250 million per annum. It is expected open up country's huge untapped mineral deposits besides helping mineral-rich states earn more revenue as it talks about progressing towards an ad-valorem duty structure. An amendment Bill would be introduced during the Budget Session to bring about suitable amendments in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
-
TISS presents equitable emissions approach for climate negotiations
<p>Treating carbon space as equivalent to development space, this recent paper by </span><a href="http://www.tiss.edu/">TISS</a></span>  calls on developed world, particularly the United States to take deep emission cuts. The study provides an analytical framework in which different mitigation proposals may be evaluated and compared, while foregrounding considerations of global equity.