The speech reflected growing trend in TDP to position Nara Lokesh as successor to his father & CM Chandrababu Naidu. Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan got lone mention.
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.
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei opened his first solo exhibition in India last week at the capital’s Nature Morte art gallery, featuring artworks from the past two decades.
Instead of buying more Mirages outright in early 2000s, the requirement was tweaked in favour of a medium-weight, multi-role fighter with Mirage-like performance.
Pakistan not only has zero chance of catching up with India in most areas, but will inevitably see the gap rising. Its leaders will offer its people the same snake oil in different bottles.
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