Union Budget 2015-16

Not only does the government require to tax polluting fuels, it also requires to use the tax funds to provide infrastructure for better public transport, says Sunita Narain

Author: Sunita Narain

Budget 2015, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has a first. In it, India has accepted that it has a de-facto carbon tax—on petroleum products and dirty coal. Arguably, the only big green initiative of this budget is the increase of cess on coal—from Rs 100 per tonne to Rs 200 per tonne. But the question is: is this carbon tax, imposed on the carbon content of fuel, doing what it should—reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for climate change? In other words, is there a design behind the carbon tax to ensure we move beyond polluting fossil fuels?

Being the first full year budget of the National Democratic Alliance government, there was expectation that the finance minister's announcements would usher in a new era in the fields of renewable energy, rural development, healthcare and agriculture. But the budget has left a lot to be desired in these areas. One area it does well is in granting more financial autonomy to states. However, it remains to be seen how smoothly the new arrangement works. A Down To Earth analysis on what lies ahead

Author: DTE Staff

THE MOST definite message that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave out in budget 2015-16 was that the Centre will share funds for development schemes with states, but the autonomy which states have been demanding for decades will come at a cost. The budget, as well as the decisions taken by the National Democratic Alliance in the run up, show that the Centre is willing to fund states if they are ready to take responsibility for implementing schemes effectively.

Finance Minister increases carbon tax for fossil fuels

Author: Anupam Chakravartty and Kanchan Kumar Agarwal

In a move to reduce its carbon footprint, it has been decided that India will pay more to consume energy produced from coal, petrol and diesel. In his budget speech as well as the Economic Survey, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has made it clear that in order to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions, the government has to raise the price of petrol and diesel.

Cut in allocation for rural development comes at a time when most villages are witnessing reverse migration, resulting in 3 per cent dip in rural wage growth

Author: Jitendra

India is staring at a rural economic crisis, a fact that even the latest economic survey accepts. But it looks like the finance minister believes otherwise because the total budgetary allocation for rural development this year is the lowest in the past three years. The total allocation for rural schemes this year is Rs 79,526 crore, which is five per cent lower than last year’s allocation of Rs 83,852 crore.

There has been a 46.8 per cent decrease in gross budgetary support for renewable energy ministry, they say

Author: Kanchan Kumar Agrawal & Kundan Pandey

Renewable energy sector experts have given a thumbs down to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budgetary allocation to the sector.

Experts told Down To Earth that Union Budget 2015-16 had failed to make the burgeoning investment requirement for transmission infrastructure a priority. This, they said, would make it difficult for the government to meet its target of manufacturing 175 GW of renewable energy by 2020, which it announced on Saturday.

Finance minister talks about Clean Energy Fund, but forgets crop insurance

Author: Geetika Singh

The budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday is a disappointing one if one considers investments required for climate adaptation and mitigation. Civil society organisations and think tanks had hoped the budget would address some concerns that had been raised in relation to climate change in the past year, such as equal emphasis on adaptation and mitigation, adequate insurance cover for crop damage and better disaster preparedness to cope with extreme weather events, to name a few. But the finance minister’s speech did not mention climate change even once.

Finance minister talks about Clean Energy Fund, but forgets crop insurance

Author: Geetika Singh

The budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday is a disappointing one if one considers investments required for climate adaptation and mitigation. Civil society organisations and think tanks had hoped the budget would address some concerns that had been raised in the climate debate time and again in the past year, such as equal emphasis on adaptation and mitigation, insurance for crop damage and development of climate-resilient villages, to name a few. But the finance minister’s speech barely mentioned these.

Proposed PPP in irrigation may prove disastrous as control of water may pass into private hands

Author: Aparna Pallavi

Chronic drought is becoming a way of life in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Successive budgets, Central and State alike, have failed to address this region’s chronic water insecurity. Union Budget 2015-16 is no exception.

Taxes on tobacco products in India are way below the internationally-accepted standards

Author: Kundan Pandey

In the budget tabled on Saturday, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed an increase in excise duty on cigarettes.

The duty will increase by 25 per cent on cigarettes of length not exceeding 65 mm and by 15 per cent for cigarettes of other lengths, cigars, cheroots and cigarillos. The budget has also raised the excise duty on cut tobacco from Rs 60 per kg to Rs 70 per kg.

Finance minister’s decision to increase farm credit corpus and give more autonomy to states for agriculture schemes unlikely to help farmers

Author: Jitendra

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley got the diagnosis right when he said in his budget speech that the country’s farmers are struggling with “declining agriculture income” and “farm distress”. But the pill he prescribed for the malady is hardly going to help, say experts.

With nothing concrete to show on ground or on paper, are smart cities being offloaded?

Author: Avikal Somvanshi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised 100 smart cities but Union budget 2015 made no mention of the big ticket scheme. Finance minister Arun Jaitley did allot Rs 1,200 crore for two sub-corridors within the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor project but avoided the term “smart city” in their description. Similarly, he skipped using the phrase while talking about realisation of GIFT project in Gujarat, which is hailed as India’s first smart city in the making. Quite a turnaround from last year when Jaitley extensively stressed on India’s need for smart cities to house the increasing urban population and allotted an impressive Rs 7,060 crores for making them happen.

Experts lament the lack of scientific planning and direction for cleaning of rivers in budgets

Author: Sushmita Sengupta

Narendra Modi government’s first full-year budget, presented on February 28, has allocated Rs 4,173 crore for water resources and Namami Gange, an integrated Ganga conservation mission. The budget also proposes tax benefits for contributors to Clean Ganga projects, declaring a 100 per cent tax exemption. But the announcements do not hold much promise for the Ganga as the budget gives very little emphasis to cleaning of the river.

Stress on insurance poised to benefit the private sector

Author: Kundan Pandey

This is the first time in the past seven years that the budget of the health sector has been slashed. This budget gives the sector Rs 6,000 crore less than what Budget 2014 did. Allocation to the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) saw an increase of 81 per cent in the past six years—from Rs 21,680 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 39,238 in 2014-15. But the good run has ended (SEE BOX).

OPINION

The 2015-16 Union budget will declare Modi government's development agenda

Author: Richard Mahapatra

The national Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will propose its first full-year budget in hardly two weeks. Usually, budget is the most sought-after instrument to gauge the governance and development agenda of a new government, notwithstanding the recent trend of governments making major policy and financial decisions outside the purview of the Union budget.

India is staring at a rural economic crisis. If the budget does not spend on rural India, the nation's growth will be badly impacted

Author: Richard Mahapatra

As one travels across India, it is difficult to miss the early symptoms of a rural crisis. Just two years ago, labour shortage and high daily wage were the two main issues people would discuss. Starting from industry associations to a middle class family constructing a new house, everybody blamed the government for the large number of programmes that apparently ...

STATE

States, already flush with cash surplus of Rs 1.6 lakh crore, will get significantly raised share from the central taxes. Along with this financial devolution, the Central government is also going to devolve the responsibility of planning and implementation of centrally sponsored schemes to states in the coming budget. This makes state budgets the key instruments of gauging the social sector

Author: Richard Mahapatra

Just four days before the Union budget, the government accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. The Commission's key recommendation is to increase the states' share in central taxes from 32 to 42 per cent.

Survey hints at what we can expect from Union Budget 2015-16

Author: Richard Mahapatra

The terms "fiscal prudence" and "fiscal consolidation" appear frequently in the Survey tabled on Friday. What do they mean? To put in plain words, the government has identified subsidies-oil, food and fertiliser-as the most important sector that must now be "rationalised" to unleash the economic potential of the country.

In the past two months, about 50 farmers have reportedly ended their lives in the state

Author: M Suchitra

Telangana's farming sector is in grave crisis. The state experienced severe drought this year and received 42 per cent less rainfall, according to the state government. Farmer suicides continue at the rate of three to four every day. In the past two months, about 50 farmers have reportedly ended their lives.

Finance Commission recommended curtailing funds under Backward Region Grant Fund

Author: Alok Gupta

Bihar's politicians, bureaucrats and economists are wondering what the Union Budget will have on offer after the 14th Finance Commission recommended that Centrally-sponsored scheme funds and Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) be curtailed for the state since it was now classified as a "performing state".

Unscientific mining has caused rampant environmental degradation in the state in the absence of proper monitoring

Author: Alok Gupta

Noted economists fear that Jharkhand might slip back into the dark ages if the Union Budget 2015-the Narendra Modi government's first full-fledged budget-does not take into account massive environmental degradation in the state.

Revenue deficit of the state for the next five years is around Rs 100,000 crore

Author: M Suchitra

Cash-starved Andhra Pradesh seems to have pinned all its hopes on Narendra Modi government's first full-fledged budget to be presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 28. The state expects the Centre to fulfill all the promises it had made during bifurcation of the state and help it tide over the grave financial crisis facing the state economy.

In the run up to Union Budget 2015, M Suchitra speaks to Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani to draw up a list of the state's expectations from the budget this year

 

As an immediate measure to revive the sector, the Centre should raise the import duty of natural rubber from the current 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Rubber sector can be brought under the ambit of the new "Make in India" scheme. The Central government must declare a scheme for supporting rubber growers with soft interest loans from banks.

ENERGY

Industry says announcement of loans and performance-based incentives in budget will invigorate sector

Author: Kundan Pandey

Most nations are betting on clean energy options to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel. India is no different. The country has set an ambitious target of adding 100 GW installed capacity of solar power and 60 GW of wind energy by 2017.

health

Innovation in medicine and vaccine research a must now

Author: Kundan Pandey

During the Lok Sabha elections last year, Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had made several promises to boost the health services in the country. Now is the time when the government has to prove that it intends to fulfill those promises and they were not merely political stunts.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Will the drubbing it faced in Delhi election and the huge controversy over its land Bill make BJP reconsider its economic thrust areas?

Author: Jitendra

This year's budget will be the first full year budget of the Narendra Modi government. Since it is likely to set a precedent for the next four years, people involved in different sectors of the economy are hoping that the budget brings some good news for them.

The allocation for handloom sector was reduced to Rs 620.5 crore in 2014-15 from Rs 2,960.5 crore in 2012-13 budget

Author: M Suchitra

Narmada S, resident of Sansthan Narayanpur village in Nalgonda district of Telangana, has never heard of Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley. She also does not understand how a single man can decide the fate of her family and many others in her village. What she knows is that handloom weavers like her will not survive for long.