Budget Extravaganza

Budget session: highs and lows

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

The three-month-long Budget Session of Parliament that ended today witnessed several highs and lows. The most productive session since the last Lok Sabha polls, it also saw Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi losing his job unceremoniously for raising passenger fares. The government's assurance to bri...

Budget Session to end on Tuesday

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

The Budget Session of Parliament will come to an end on Tuesday. Several issues including the BR Ambedkar cartoon row and the 'Kali-Ma' beer rocked the session, that on its second last day, also managed to table the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to make...

Maharashtra civic bodies defy budget e-report norm

Monday, 21 May 2012

General apathy on the part of civic officials across the state is ensuring that information, which has to be mandatorily shared with citizens, is being kept out of the public domain for the last four years. The Maharashtra Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils (Second Amendment) Act, 2007 ...

CAG raps Railways for overshooting budget, giving low priority to safety

Thursday, 17 May 2012

The Comptroller and Auditor General has pulled up the Indian Railways for its poor financial performance, saying the transporter has been overshooting its budget year after year. "The percentage of expenditure in excess of limits authorised by Parliament has increased in the last three years from 1....

Mah Home Ministry wants a masterplan on spending budget amount

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Maharashtra Home Ministry has directed its officials to prepare a masterplan to see that the budget allocated to the department is spent within a financial year, a minister said. "We have asked the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to prepare a masterplan to see that the budget allocated to the Depa...

Budget 2012-13: Law panel approves Rs 50 lakh development projects

Friday, 11 May 2012

The law committee of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation gave its administrative approval to all development projects estimated to cost Rs 50 lakh, in the draft budget of 2012-13, during a meeting on Monday. "The civic administration had tabled the proposal to obtain administrative approval ...

Pranab Mukherjee to reply on Budget proposals today

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to reply on Tuesday to various proposals in his 2012-13 Budget. The Finance Minister will be seeking Parliament's approval to move the Finance Bill and is likely to relook at some of the controversial proposals, such as changes in the tax laws that woul...

Pranab Mukherjee to reply on Budget 2012 proposals

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to begin debating the Finance Bill in Parliament on Tuesday. Mukherjee will reply to various proposals announced in his 2012-13 budget speech. The Finance Minister�s debate in the Lok Sabha will be closely watched as he is expected to relook at some of ...

Pranab Mukherjee may soften budget blows

Monday, 7 May 2012

Amid talk of his ascent to the presidential office, there are indications that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee may take a relook at some of his controversial 2012-13 budget proposals when he seeks Parliament's approval for the passage of the Finance Bill this week. Sources said Mukherjee may wate...

Parliamentary panel asks govt to adopt fresh outlook towards agriculture budget

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

A parliamentary standing committee has taken a grim view of constant pruning of budget of agriculture ministry. It has asked the Centre to adopt a fresh outlook towards allocation of finances to the sector as it sustains economically weak farming community. The parliamentary panel examining the de...

RBI to notify proposal allowing airlines to access foreign funds

Friday, 20 April 2012

The government on Thursday said it expects the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to notify the budget announcement of allowing the cash-strapped Indian civil aviation sector to borrow up to $1 billion in external loans for a period of one year within seven days. "RBI is expected to issue a relevant circ...

Nod to Rs 222-crore SGPC budget for first quarter

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

For the first time in the history of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), it was the executive committee and not the general house, which put its stamp of approval on the budgetary expenditure of the religious body for the first quarter of the new financial year. Having missed...

Budget is jugglery of figures as state heads towards debt trap

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Eknath Khadse, slammed the state budget for 2012-13 as being a mere jugglery of figures that attempted to cover up Maharashtra's poor finances and the fact that the overall growth story had hit rock bottom. Charging that the budget had been prepared ...

Not enough in the state budget for environment

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

The Goa budget 2012-13 evoked a mixed reaction in the context of environment as social activists and environmentalists welcomed various measures, including rejuvenation of agriculture and water bodies, but pointed out that the budget lacked any specific proposals to prevent further environment degra...

Goa Budget levies fee on iron ore lying on forest land

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has proposed to levy fee on iron ore lying on government-owned forest land and also sought to conduct auction for the ore deposited on agriculture land owned by individuals.Presenting the state budget, the chief minister proposed to survey the ore which has been w...