Senior New Delhi-based journalist R Rajagopalan, who has been closely following the Union Budget preparations since 1977, lifts the veil off India's most secretive operation.
There is concern in the organisation and the leadership over the unbridled criticism aimed at the Finance Ministry.
All the Gujarat cadre officers have one thing in common. They do not need Modi's 'informal interactions' and advice because they are from the so-called 'Modi school of governance.' They know Modi well enough to perform their assigned roles.
Travelling abroad will be tougher for civil servants, with the Narendra Modi government further tightening the rules for foreign travel.
Ban on purchase of vehicles, except for defence, continues.
'The promises of netas and babus and new laws, however well-meaning, mean little.' 'What matters is implementation on the ground.' 'Every law is finally implemented by a vast army of offici
While the PM sees zero tax on long-term capital gains and dividend income as unfair since the beneficiaries are not poor, he is silent on the fact that rich farmers too don't pay taxes, since farm income is tax-free, a loophole exploited by many netas and babus, says Debashis Basu.
The new tax regime proposed by the Modi government may not have acceptance from all corners.
'There were tears in my eyes when I parted with my medals. I thought was it for this moment did I become a soldier?' In 2008, Captain H Balakrishnan (retd) of the Indian Navy returned all his medals to the President of India to protest the government's failure to implement the One Rank One Pension scheme.
Those behind recapitalisation are neither aware nor do they care. After all, they have no skin in this game. And the Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. That's what they care about, points out Debashis Basu.
Three key babus will make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of Budget programmes.
M R Venkatesh, chartered accountant turned political commentator tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com that Modi's war is not against the opposition parties or the Congress but against the bureaucracy and the establishment.
On the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing one year in office, Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com speaks to BJP president Amit Shah who is yin to Modi's yang. Don't miss it!
We're behaving like frogs in warm water. We swim around untroubled, cooled by our faith in Indian liberal democracy. We are blind to the bubbles popping around us, the bubbles warning of fundamental changes, says Mihir S Sharma.
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