If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
In the Upper House of Parliament, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu did not allow adjournment notices moved by opposition members on the issue of price rise, prompting members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Shiv Sena to create an uproar.
Despite being cleared in the lower house, the GST bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for clearance, where the Congress enjoys numerical strength, reports Kavita Chowdhury.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
A new comprehensive Income Tax bill will be drawn up by the next fiscal end to clean up complex and archaic laws, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday.
In the entire month's recess during Parliament's Budget session, said the Bharatiya Janata Party, the major opposition grouping, none from the government spoke to it on any of the major stuck legislation.
On the eve of consideration of Lokpal Bill by the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday mounted difficulties on the government by giving notice for amendment to the crucial legislation in which it wants references to formation of Lokayuktas to be dropped.
Ruling out the implementation of value-added tax from June 1, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday announced several excise duty concessions on edible oil and textiles.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday spurned Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request for inputs on the proposed Lokpal Bill, arguing it would not be proper for a political party to submit its views to a drafting committee comprising civil society members as it would upset constitutional propriety.
Days before the passage of the Finance Bill in the Parliament, Left party leaders on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded urgent steps by the United Progressive Alliance government to check growing prices of essential commodities. Top leaders of four Left parties, supporting the government placed six demands before him, saying these measures should be taken immediately to curb burgeoning prices.
Four per cent countervailing customs duty on components for mobile phone manufacturing exempted.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on salient features of the Budget.
According to a top Congress minister, the government needs to be on its toes next week when the combined opposition moves cut motions and the finance bill also comes up for passing in the Lok Sabha. The reason is the altered attitude of the Left parties, particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist towards the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Left now seeing the Congress as its enemy number one.
PSUs are asking for tax holiday for oil exploration and production activities to continue. The latest Budget imposes a Sunset clause for 100 per cent tax exemption for refining of mineral oil.
While the Left parties are in talks with secular Opposition parties on a joint strategy during voting on the Budget in the budget session resuming from April 15, they are not not averse to BJP and its allies supporting a joint opposition cut motion.
Manufacturing taxes, VAT will come down, assures Jaitley
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
The devil is in the detail for the real estate sector. Though the Budget gave sops to home buyers in the form of tax savings and interest rate subvention, it quietly brought back service tax on lease rentals in the Finance Bill.
The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN.
The increase reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.6 per cent in October-December 2022-23. In absolute terms, the total liabilities, including liabilities under the 'Public Account' of the government, jumped to Rs 1,50,95,970.8 crore at the end of December 2022.
The commerce ministry is proposing a host of direct and indirect incentives such as deferral of import duties and exemption from export taxes to revamp Special Economic Zones through a new legislation, an official said. In the Union Budget this year, the government proposed to replace the existing law governing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with a new legislation to enable states to become partners in 'Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs' (DESH). The official said the commerce ministry has sought views of different ministries, including finance, on the new bill.
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
After Parineeti Chopra and Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha were spotted together on several occasions, rumours linking them have been doing the rounds.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
A comprehensive Bill on insurance sector is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. \n
The government is targeting export of goods and services worth $2 trillion by 2030.
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
"I came in between" Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the leaders of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who had formed a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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