A new investigation called the ‘Mauritius Leaks’ was released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) earlier this week.

Some of the important figures in Union Budget for 2019-20 would seem a little too ambitious if one takes a close look at two sets of budgetary figures available at present for Union Government’s finances for the year 2018-19, which ended on 31st of March this year.

Recent mayhem in West Bengal’s public hospitals, as doctors were on strike for eight days, reflects the larger implosion of the health system of the state.

On May 31, the Dr. Kasturirangan Committee submitted the draft New Education Policy (NEP) 2019 to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). The policy has immense significance as it comes after a gap of nearly 30 years (last National Education Policy was in 1986, modified in 1992).

The performance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has varied significantly across different social sectors. There are some areas, where one must acknowledge the progress made through visible political commitment and ambitious initiatives despite persisting challenges.

Land rights structurally escape women. This is a fundamental issue in understanding why women’s work as farmers is largely invisible. However, the large-scale migration of men towards pursuing other non-farm employment opportunities due to the worsening agrarian crisis has pushed more women into this sector. Work is not homogenous and neither are women or their work.

Agriculture has got an unprecedented 144% rise in allocation in the interim budget announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government–from Rs 57,600 crore in the 2018-19 budget estimates to Rs 1,40,764 crore in the interim budget.

The much expected Interim Union Budget 2019-20 was presented on 1 February, 2019 and a number of major announcements were made, with new schemes being introduced, ranging from a small income guarantee scheme to farmers having less than 2 hectares landholding, to a new contributory pension scheme for unorganised sector workers earning less than Rs. 15,000 per month.

A popular question on the Interim Union Budget for 2019-20 would be: If and to what extent it could help the ruling political dispensation in the elections this year. The initiative of providing income support to small and marginal farmers, introduced in the Interim Budget, seems to be the only big measure announced in recent times that is backed adequately by budgetary commitments; but this too has come very late in this government’s term.

The use of tax incentives to attract investments is prevalent around the world. However, there is no definitive data on the global magnitude of incentives granted because not all countries collect and publicly report such data and there is no common methodology for reporting across all countries.

Before coming to power in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had accorded high priority to job-creation; with a promise of creating 10 million jobs being the highlight of the election campaigns. On the face of its professed emphasis on job-creation, the government is facing widespread criticism on account of its failure to create jobs.

The Union Budget, in essence, gives details of how much the government plans to allocate for schemes and projects, and how much revenue it expects to collect in the ensuing financial year.