Monthly allowance for women, housing for the poor, subsidised gas cylinders, increased pensions, and 2 lakh govt jobs feature in both the Congress and BJP manifestos.
Revenue surplus has been estimated at Rs 1,700 cr. Water resources, women & child development, MSME, cow welfare & happiness departments see major hikes in outlay. No new taxes announced.
For FY25, Bihar's assumption of revenue surplus seems optimistic, while UP's seems doable. In Punjab, main concern is that targeted reduction in fiscal deficit is to come by cutting capex.
In his maiden budget, state finance minister Thangam Thennarasu also announced a housing scheme to make the state 'hut-free' by 2030 & project to reduce water pollution in North Chennai.
Data reveals that states with a lower variance between their estimates and their actual expenditure do better in terms of governance outcomes. Spending less isn't the solution.
While a higher capital outlay has been budgeted for FY 23-24, trends of last FY suggest states have underspent on capex & are unlikely to achieve their targets for 2022-23.
Speaking on 2023-24 UP budget presented last week, former CM said Ganga Expressway won't be ready in time as state govt had 'deserted' friend Gautam Adani, whose firm was to build most of it.
In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.
Troops patrolled up to Patrolling Point (PP) 10 on Monday. Though there are PP 10, 11, 12, 12A & 13 in Depsang Plains, it was decided that only one or two PPs would be patrolled.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
A sort of rat race, making several all-alluring pre-poll promises, seems to be going between the main political parties contesting the ensuing Haryana assembly elections. But where will the money come from to upkeep the same after coming into power here? There should be some constitutional provisions to honour all such vote centric commitments. The Hon’ble SC may kindly like to take suo motu note thereof.
A sort of rat race, making several all-alluring pre-poll promises, seems to be going between the main political parties contesting the ensuing Haryana assembly elections. But where will the money come from to upkeep the same after coming into power here? There should be some constitutional provisions to honour all such vote centric commitments. The Hon’ble SC may kindly like to take suo motu note thereof.