The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, March 03, 2007

For farm sector, time to go beyond the Budget
The Budget is merely a statement of intent and a work plan. For it to deliver, implementation is the key. Here is where the plan fails, and throwing money at the problem is not going to solve it. Policy-makers must find out if the returns from invest ments in agriculture are commensurate and tweak plans accordingly. They must also realise that Budgets by themselves will not deliver agriculture from its traditional yoke, says K. P. PRABHAKARAN NAIR. More

Market-oriented reforms can score in education too
The target of spreading education has been achieved. Now its quality must be enhanced. This can be done by privatising government schools and regulating them effectively. The time has come to implement market-oriented reforms in the social sector too , says BHARAT JHUNJHUNWALA. More

How the Budget measures up
There is no reason to exclude companies in SEZs from the levy of MAT. More

A painful twist in the ESOP tale
The ESOP benefits springing out of employment ought to be taxed in the hands of the benefiting employees and not in the hands of the employers providing them. More

Changes in Excise
Tinkering with excise duty rates has continued yet again this year. For instance, the excise duty on umbrellas, imposed in 2006, has been reduced from 16 per cent to 8 per cent. Major change has been brought about in rate of duty on cement. The ... More

Effect on corporates
The hike in dividend distribution tax from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent will further increase the burden of double taxation. Besides, it will have an impact on the payout, which would adversely affect small the medium ... More

INTERVIEW
Budget benchmarking from a macroeconomic perspective
Keeping the rate of inflation under check is looking difficult because it has strong monetary roots and supply-side pressures. More

LETTERS

Inflation pressures

Tax-payers let down

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