Experts said that earmarking of funds for public health at par with national security indicates a key policy shift.
The Indian government has marginally exceeded its indirect tax collection target for fiscal year 2025-26, with strong performances in customs, excise, and GST revenues.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday introduced two bills in the Lok Sabha to levy excise duty on tobacco and tobacco products, and a new cess on manufacturing of pan masala, which will replace the GST compensation cess on such sin goods.
Three laws passed in Parliament could boost central revenues, reshape GST cess flows, shift MGNREGA costs to states and create new budget headroom ahead of the 2026-2027 Union Budget, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday lashed out at TMC MP Saugata Roy for objecting to her speaking in Hindi on a bill, pointing out that the translation technology allows members to listen to speeches in any language.
Delhi's crime rate against women stood at 144.4 in 2022 -- the highest among all states and Union Territories.
Around 81 per cent of the workers constitute the unorganised sector - devoid of any social security cover and outside the purview of a complex set of labour laws.
The most experienced administrator in the country seems to have sat back and allowed bureaucrats and policemen to manage the lockdown, observes Jyoti Punwani.
'For the first month, we have only had 5.5 million who have paid the tax.' '40 per cent have paid nil as tax; 95 per cent of the taxation for the first two months has come from only 400,000 assessees.' 'So even now, the tax-paying habit, of paying a marginal or negligible amount, or not paying anything at all, is quite prevalent,' reveals Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
NDA government has shunned populism.
Jaitley said a 10 per cent tax long on capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh made from the sale of shares has been introduced but those made till Janaury 31 would be grandfathered. A 10 per cent tax on distributed income by equity oriented mutual funds has also been proposed in the budget.
'On December 5, the government called unions for pre-Budget consultations.' '12 trade unions were called and the time allotted was one hour which means 5 minutes for each union.' 'We were asked to present our views in about four minutes.' 'That itself is a reflection of how serious the government is about workers' demands.'
What is required from government is intellectual framework.
A provision of Rs 15,000 crore has been made in the budgetary estimate of 2016-17 towards interest subvention.
Its economy dependent on tourist arrivals, the hill state is looking at a summer of discontent. Not that the rest of the year promises to be any different. Ashwani Sharma reports from Shimla.
Indian economy about to take-off
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
