BUDGET 2010

Budget has been a non event for the past few years,but this years budget is certainly something that cannot be ignored,I am saying this even after considering the fact that there are hardly any positive or negative surprises in the budget.However,now that the event is over, I expect the focus to shift to monetary policy and the crisis in Europe.

The Finance Minister needs to be praised for giving a proper road map to tackle fiscal deficit.The gradual removal of stimulus should help the growth in the economy.This should help prevent a double dip recession.The F.M has announced to divest upto 40k crores,however looking at the primary market,it is certainly going to be a tough task to raise funds through the primary market.Some money must be left on table for the investors,to successfully raise funds.Most of the analysts dint expect the finance minister to touch the corporate tax rates,but MAT was raised to 18% from 15% which did come as a negative surprise.This should increase the tax liability by 241cr,219cr,183 cr. for Reliance ind. Infosys and Bharti Airtel respectively.Reduction in surcharge should reduce this liability to some extent.Raise in MAT rates is in line with D.T.C which seeks to end exemptions.

The revised income tax slabs should certainly increase savings and spendings which will therefore fuel growth.This should also help the middle class tackle inflation,further a deduction of 20k can be claimed by investing in infrastructure bonds.The revised slabs will also help the middle class to cope up with the interest rates which are set to rise in the future.

Allocations in NREGA and Rajiv Gandhi yojna have not been raised significantly.There are not many steps taken to help the poor in urban and rural areas.The hike in import duty and excise duty on petrol and diesel is going to fuel the inflation.The revised income tax slabs too can fuel inflation,which may eventuaaly lead to a widening of gap between the rich and the poor.The budget has not provided much help to the poor to tackle inflation.The loan waiver has been extended by six months,but the agri sector has recorded a fall of 2.5% for the previous quarter.Due to the lack of initiative towards the farm sector the prayers to lord Indra is going to get louder.

No significant reforms have been mentioned in the budget.The past has shown us that government generally does not use the budget as a platform to announce reforms.Looking at the minister's statements ,I can say with some certainty that Kirit Parikh committees recommendations would be taken seriously.Non banking financial institutions can now get banking license,it is certainly a great move since it will increase competition. Few months back there were rumors in the street about Reliance Capital taking control of Dhanlakshmi Bank,after this announcement R-cap was amongst the top performers in yesterdays market.NBFS's such as IDFC and IFCI moved up after this news.

Finally to sum up I would say it was a great budget for the middle class.The corporates would not be complaining,but it is certainly a bad budget for the poor since much of their problems have not been addressed.The focus of the budget seems to be to increase growth ie. G.D.P but it would be better if the focus shifts to increasing our H.D.I ie. inclusive growth.

INDIA-the socialist democratic republic

Received a phone call from Satan a couple of days back.By listening to his voice I could make out that he was upset with something.When I probed into it ,he told me that he was going through a really bad phase because Jyoti Basu has managed to form a union .

Socialism has been one of the most important reasons why India has failed to progress after independence.Nehruvian socialism is one of the most commonly used jargon in the news studios,and I personally feel that Nehruvian socialism still seems to play an important role in our foreign policy.

Many may argue by saying that Nehru was a great leader and it was socialism that made him a great leader.I do not disagree with this view,but through this post the message that I wish to convey is that socialism is all about providing best possible solution in the short term by turning a blind eye to the future.

Let us take the case of a group of workers going on strike.A leftist government more often than not would come to the support of the workers i.e their electorates.This may help to solve the problems of the workers in the short run,but in the long run investors would prefer to stay away from such states/nations.

After jyoti Basu's death I came across an article by a famous journalist-Kanchan Gupta-Through the article he described the journey of Kolkatta towards darkness(after the left's tenure began in mid 1960's ).The city was blessed wit great infrastructure but the leftist ideology prevented the city from moving forward.Kolkatta would have been a mumbai if not for jyoti basu..

Jyoti Basu and Nehru have been loved by the public because of their inclination towards socialism,but in the long run there are not many takers for their ideology.A leftist govt generally maintains a low tax rate which again makes them popular among the electorates,but this is what spoils the fiscal policy of the country.insufficient fund allocation towards the society causes deaths due to hunger,poor infrastructure(roads,rail etc.)If you sum up this figure it should be 100 times more than the deaths during the Godhra riots.These lives have been lost because of our inclination towards socialism.

off late I have been praying regularly...I dont want to meet Jyoti Basu!

The Travesty of Judicial System in case of Quattrocchi(by amogh pathak)

The Quattrocchi saga is a blot on the Congress led UPA government--which it cannot wash away. I don’t recollect any incident where the government has actually went out of the way to save any individual (of course there was a selfish motive though).The dropping of the cases against Q was bound to happen .First it was the defreezing of Quattrocchi’s accounts. Second the govt. facilitated the withdrawing of Interpol’s red corner notice. Third it gave the final clean chit to the Italian corrupt fraudmaster ‘Q’ by dropping all charges against him. In this whole saga what comes through is the proximity of Mr. Quattrocchi to 10, Janpath. The sum alleged may be small as compared to the huge corruption that prevails in the Indian political arena. But the way it was done and the underhand methods used so blatantly to get Quattrocchi walk free is something which cannot be easily explained off.

The questions that actually aghast me are :- Why was the UPA government under Mrs Sonia Gandhi so keen on freeing ‘Q’? What is the relationship of ‘Q’ to the first family? Why did the law minister sent an envoy to the UK to defreeze his account keeping the PM in the dark? Why was Quattrocchi not extradited from Malaysia, when the Central government did say that it was a fit case for extradition? Why did the then Solicitor General Mr. Gopal Subramanium withdrew case against Italian Businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi when CBI had once suggested a strong case existed? What happened between then-with a strong case in existence?

I think it all started when Margaret Alva was the Minister in charge of Personnel, the Congress allowed Quattrocchi to sneak out of the country? 64 crores may be peanuts for the ministers and the first family- the fact remains that the Congress strongly helped the fleeing and then the freeing of Mr. ‘Q’. If there was no case then why had ‘Q’ not appeared for the questions, faced the charges and cleared himself? Instead he was running as a refugee from country to country. The role of Congress is surely a suspect. It has brought disgrace and disrepute to the country and its investigation agencies and made a farce of our whole justice system.

All the big tamasha of sleeping in a dalit’s house and sharing a night meal with them, travelling in local trains in Mumbai etc. is big propaganda for Rahul. This is sheer hypocrisy. If the Congress and Rahul really feels the plight of the poorest of the poor then I think Mr. Rahul is smart enough to understand that one night’s dinner is not gonna suffice the cause. You really require people like Baba Amte, Amritanandamayi Devi, Mother Teressa etc. to actually bring a real change. It takes a lot of courage to fight corruption because corruption is the root cause for all the ills. Is one night stay of Mr. Rahul Gandhi going to actually eradicate the poverty of the poor people? If really Rahul and his mother believe in eradication of poverty then Quatrrocchi’s case should have been different.

At the end I would say it is not the 64 crores but the message that they will go upto any level to save people who are close to them; the government led by Mrs Sonia Gandhi will not hesitate to make a farce of this whole judicial system and block its process.

“JAI HIND, JAI MAHARASHTRA”

The math behind the farmer suicides(part2)

The increase in farmer suicide has been a cause of concern in the past couple of years.In the previous post I have managed to highlight the causes of farmer suicides in India.One of the major reasons for the increase in farmer suicides is because of the inability of the farmers to cope up with the rising prices and decrease in rainfall.

Despite the economic crisis and 26/11 the U.P.A government managed to win the lok sabha elections in 2009.Most of the experts in news studios were of the opinion that the Indo-US nuclear deal helped the government to win the election with such a comfortable margin,but I strongly disagree with this view.I feel that the farm loan waiver was one the main reasons why the congress party was successful in winning more than 200 seats.However the Indo-US nuclear treaty was one of the main reasons why the congress party was successful in the urban areas.The harsh reality as of today is that the farmers in rural areas would require such stimulus packages on a regular basis to continue with the agri production,but due to such high fiscal deficit it would be difficult for the govt. to come up such similar packages.

I am not a leftist,but a leftist policy is required to prevent this problem from escalating(This is one of the main reason why naxals have been receiving support from the people in rural areas.)Stimulus must be given to the agri sector on a regular basis(say annually).proceeds from disinvestment,3G auction should be channeled in such a manner that this sector is the greatest beneficiary.A federal body should be formed,which can help to administer the funds in a proper manner.The federal body should have the freedom to decide the package to be provided for a particular region(based on the rainfall ).

Recently chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi recommended that the PDS should be strengthened.I strongly agree with this suggestion,but surprisingly the finance minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee saw this as a gimmick by Modi to target the central govt. Improving the current PDS can help the people in rural areas to tackle inflation in a better way.It would be beneficial to the country if the govt. takes Modi's comments seriously.

Finally I would say that in the past decade many of the economies throughout the world have started growing at a faster pace.We are currently seeing a scenario where focus is shifting from agri to industrialization.If such a transition takes place,we have to understand that the food production should fall over a period of time(causing the food inflation to rise).In such a scenario the Indian farmer would be a great asset to the country.It would help if the politicians stop fighting on petty issues and start focusing on such issues.The focus of the govt. should be to increase the growth rate in the H.D.I rather than increasing the growth rate of the country's GDP.It would help if the media starts focusing on these issues.It would help if the NGO's stop fighting for gay rights and start fighting for the rights of the Indian farmer.Until then,Let's hope that Aatmaram does not consume that bottle of poison.

The math behind the farmer suicides(part1)

Aatmaram a farmer in Vidharbha spends around 12 hours in his field.Its not because he is busy working.He prefers to stay back in his field,so that he could avoid the sight of his hungry family.Due to the insufficient rains Aatmaram has failed to generate sufficient income to feed his family and thereby he has failed to capitalize on the rising food prices.The greedy moneylender threatens Aatmaram on a daily basis to repay the money loaned to him.The only solution that Aatmaram has thought of is to consume the bottle of poison that he has been carrying in his pocket for some time.

So now let us analyze what is leading farmers to take such a drastic step.In the past 5 years we have been growing at 6%-10%,inflation has been hovering between 4%-13%(however the year 2009 was an exception).Looking at these wonderful growth rates it is difficult to digest the fact that thousands of farmers have been committing suicides annually.Unfortunately what we fail to understand is that the answer lies in the numbers.We have seen the inflation hover between 4%-13%,but the growth rate in agriculture has always been below 4%.despite a higher food inflation the farmers have failed to capitalize on it due to the inability to increase production(supply of land is generally limited for a poor farmer) and poor monsoons.So we are seeing a scenario where the expenses and costs of a farmer to take care of his field and his family has been growing at a faster pace than the pace at which his income has been growing,besides the purchasing power in the urban areas has shot up significantly and these farmers are finding it difficult to cope up with this sudden change.

Poor rainfall this year is only going to make the problem worse.As always I criticize Mr. Pawar for the lack of initiative taken as the agri min. of the country.He seems to be working as the agri minister of western Maharashtra.It would be helpful if he realizes that he is the agri min. of India.

Finally the question that comes to my mind is,will Aatmaram consume the bottle of poison that he has been carrying in his pocket..............to be contd................

Mercy for Cricket Bowlers…(By RAHUL TANK)

Mercy for Cricket Bowlers…

The Cricketing fraternity is shocked by the latest Ball Tampering incident by (Famous for all wrong reasons) Shahid Afridi (man who thought he would secure his place in this year’s IPL but thanks to Almighty he is not there). Only God knows whether he was smelling,chewing or licking the ball. This was an absurd and never heard before act . He said he really smelled the ball… apparently, with his teeth. He later said he wanted to win the match for Pakistan and by tampering the ball he could get the wickets….Afridi, who was 19 years old for at least two years or more, has been the bad boy of Pakistani cricket for some time. He has been involved in a number of dressing room clashes – physical, not just verbal. Making him captain is like making Saddam Hussian, the Head of World Peace Movement. Now the real Question is why are the cricketers indulging in the practice of tampering the ball? Why there is a need for them to make such unfair practices in order to get wickets and win the match.

According to me BALL TAMPERING (It is an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball.) should be legalized in All forms of Cricket. I believe, Batsman have an edge over bowlers in Cricket.Rules such as power play and free hits,makes the batsman's job easier. But I pity the bowlers as they have to maintain their Line and length. The margin for error is very less for bowlers, so if batsman has the option of power play, let the bowlers also have the option of using the ball as they want. As a result there would be a fair competition in the cricket field. The irony is that ball tampering is usually linked to reverse swing, so bowlers can make maximum use of it and which in turn should make it difficult for the batsman to score. Also batsman use various types of bats in terms of, size ( thickness) and weight to score runs,then why there is only one type of ball being used by the Bowlers?? so let them make the best use of the ball i.e. tamper the ball according to the situation..

So I strongly favour the bowlers and want ICC to legalized Ball Tampering