The 2008 Union budget must be remembered. Not because it heralds the news of an early election. But because it comes at a time when the world is battling four different but linked developments. First, the impending US recession, which is already costing our financial markets to tumble. Second, record oil price hikes. Third, sky-rocketing prices of foodgrains in the international market. This week, the price of rice has surged to a 20-year high, touching $500 per tonne for the first time since 1969. The price of wheat within the last eight months has risen 88 per cent. The fourth global development is climate change, which is already rearing its evil head in terms of the intensification of extreme and variable weather events