Budgeting for agriculture and food
The Union Budget 2023-24 was presented against the backdrop of some critical geopolitical developments and was the last full budget before the next general elections. Signicantly, 2023 is also the year
Budget
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Public hearing on limestone mining
Shillong: The Meghalaya State Pollution Board (MPSCB) will conduct a public hearing on a proposal of the Cement Manufacturing Company Limited (CMCL) to acquire more land for mining of limestone in Lumshnong area in Jaintia Hills. The public hearing assumes significance in the context that degradation of the environment in Jaintia Hills from mining-related activities has been an issue in the ongoing Budget Session. The issue has been taken up by members from both the Treasury and Opposition benches.
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NREGS cut won’t cause dearth of funds: Ramesh
New Delhi A 17% cut in the budgetary allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for FY13 is a fallout of successive years of poor expenditure by states and allegations of diversion and misappropriation of funds. “Considering that states have not been able to spend the budgeted amount in FY12 and even in the previous years, it’s only prudent to reduce allocation in MGNREGS and channel the funds towards some other schemes where the government needs to invest more,” said a senior government official.
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Govt rules out cess on diesel vehicles
NewDelhi:The government decided against levying a cess on diesel vehicles fearing that the move will adversely impact employment and investment, especially after companies have sunk in thousands of crores
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Union Budget may not check diesel subsidy misuse
NEW DELHI: The union budget has failed to take steps to stop the misuse of diesel subsidy by private cars, said advocacy organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Saturday. Calling the budget
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Recovery mode
Indians, it seems, are obsessed with growth. Everyone wants to see and experience it. Growth, however, is as much elusive as it is desired. Policy makers and politicians are at their wits' end in their
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More of the same, and the same is not enough
Spending has been increased again, but there’s still no effort in the Budget to improve outcomes In this Budget, the government has raised the outlay for social sector schemes — from drinking water and sanitation to education and health. This is clearly important. But the question is: how will this money be spent so that it can make the difference in people’s welfare? At this moment, there is little understanding about how to ensure that the social service schemes are more effective and reach the people they are meant to service.
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Environmentalists welcome duty on cars
Environmentalists have welcomed the government’s tax hike on big cars and SUVs, claiming this will help reduce toxic emissions. But they warn that the government has taken no steps to curb the use of subsidised diesel in private diesel cars. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, warned that urgent steps must be taken to discourage “diesel consumption as also to reduce toxic emissions”, especially since dieselisation is rapidly growing in the small and medium segments which have been left untouched.
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FM's Budget targets subsidy burden
New Delhi Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed trimming the government's subsidy burden and called for speeding the pace of economic reforms, which have been stalled by political gridlock, in his Union Budget 2012-13 speech on Friday. High oil prices have swelled India's subsidy burden to roughly 2.5 percent of GDP and Mukherjee called for reducing that to less than 2 percent in the fiscal year that starts on April 1.
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India's growth disappointing, but recovering: Pranab
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, presenting the 2012 budget on Friday said the growth of the Indian economy, estimated at 6.9 per cent during this fiscal year, was “disappointing”. “The global crisis has affected us. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to grow at 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, after having grown at 8.4 per cent in each of the two preceding years,” the finance minister said at the beginning of his seventh budget presentation in the Lok Sabha.
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India's businesses fear more taxes in Budget 2012
India's businesses, already facing high interest rates and a global economic slowdown, worry that the finance ministry will ask them to shoulder a bigger tax burden in the budget set for release on Friday to trim the fiscal deficit. After a drubbing in recent state elections, the government has little room to cut subsidies costing 2.5 per cent of GDP. But without fiscal consolidation, the Reserve Bank of India will have a harder time lowering interest rates without stoking inflation.