The Budget touches a few highs and lows as far as personal finance is concerned, and one needs to be aware of them in order to optimise on one's investment plans.
Consumer durables and electronics companies are putting the final touches to their festive period plans.
In villages in Palghar district -- in Mumbai's backyard -- more than 254 children have died from malnutrition.
Here is a closer look at politicos who have emerged victorious in the electoral contest of five state assemblies.
Governments must encourage micro-irrigation, use of natural manure and pesticides in a big way. Farm income can be doubled by reducing cost as much as by increasing MSP, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Changes in threshold not to have a significant revenue impact, say officials
Seeking to woo Muslims as well as upper castes, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday promised quota in police and other government jobs for minority community, release of "innocent" youths jailed on terror charges and constitution of an upper caste commission in its manifesto brimming with sops.
Born in poverty and subjected to inhuman abuse, Kalpana Saroj overcame all hurdles to emerge a success story.
The industry's reactions to the Budget have been mixed.
With a sole mandate of inflation targeting, RBI wears many hats.
In addition to the problem of long queues at automated teller machines, there would be the problem of guiding new cardholders, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, on how to use those cards, some bankers told Business Standard.
'In Rajiv Gandhi's time, out of every Re 1 spent by the government only 15 paisa reached the public.' 'At this moment, I cannot say that the entire Re 1 reaches the common man's pocket, but yes, two-thirds of that money definitely reaches the common man.' 'And the rest of the money will also reach soon.'
'The cash part is the lower hanging fruit compared to the other sources.' 'To attack the cash part of black money, I can't think of anything else but demonetisation.'
Low consumer demand, a slide in investments and troubles in the banking sector should prompt the government to recalibrate taxes and expenditure. It is also important to ramp up spending on health care and education, says CII president Sumit Mazumder.
Aseem Chhabra looks at the year's best Non-Hindi Indian movies.
Eminent business journalist and author Tamal Bandyopadhyay discussed Budget with rediff.com readers on Tuesday.
'70 per cent of sewage flows untreated into the river along its entire course. Hardwar and Rishikesh remain two of our holiest cities. Then why has the government failed to do anything?' 'If Modi can do with the Ganga what he has done with the Sabarmati, that will be a major achievement.'
'Alas, in this scheme there is nothing to stop the black money flows of the future.' 'On the contrary Modi has sown the seeds of more, through the issue of Rs 2,000 notes.' 'But have you heard one politician decrying this aspect of the scheme?' 'They must be secretly rejoicing that while Modi is taking away their past, he has not shut the door on their future,' says banker S Muralidharan.
'There is no difference between the earlier government and the present government.' 'They are all following the economic policy based on the Chicago School of thought.' 'This school of thought says the government should have very little role in governing the country and the majority of the work should be handed over to the private sector.' 'This has not succeeded in the US.' 'Yet, it is being tried here by people like Arvind Subramaniam, Arvind Panagariya, Urjit Patel and Raghuram Rajan.'
'Vajpayee was the first prime minister to visit the battlefield at the height of conflict,' recalls Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'We have Hindu values, Hindu customs, Hindu philosophy, Hindu way of looking at all religions as acceptable.' 'These are all great assets of India.'
Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who as Gujarat chief minister was considered close to certain business groups and industrialists, has hardly been seen with any Indian business head.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the states were free to announce farm loan waivers if they had the fiscal space and that there would be no shortfall this year in divestment and non-tax revenues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on range of issues -- from Rafale deal to Ram temple and triple talaq.
'Our first great challenge is to create 12 million new jobs each year, to make the demographic dividend an economic dividend.' 'We are nowhere near that,' points out Mohan Guruswamy.
Contrary to the bragging that marked its two-year anniversary, the government's timidity on reform is simply astounding.
One popular strategy is to hire contract workers.
The Congress has never given India a PM who was a prisoner of his or her own image, said Rahul Gandhi at the party's MPs' meet.
In a marathon address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday underlined India's unity and diversity and the progress of his 15-month-old government's policies.
With the Maharashtra government doling out pieces of the lush green Aarey forest to various utilities, the tribals living in it for generations are feeling increasingly insecure. Hepzi Anthony reports.
In a nation divided by many things, the 12-digit unique identity number is holding lives to ransom.
'The transmission sector is going to be the next sunrise industry.'
Nitish Kumar has failed to curb communal forces and hoodlums across communities. And that is ominous for Bihar's present and future, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
Common people expect the government to be aggressive and opt for growth related measures in the upcoming Budget.
Hers is a rags-to-riches story for the ages, peppered with risks, determination and strokes of luck.
Boost to dairy sector will generate jobs
Ever thought if Bollywood actors are capable of playing these roles?
Indian economy about to take-off
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