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Congress era lobbyist Deepak Talwar acted as middleman in civil aviation agreement causing loss to Air India: ED

OpIndia Staff
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Congress era lobbyist Deepak Talwar acted as middleman in civil aviation agreement causing loss to Air India: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that the ‘corporate lobbyist’, Deepak Talwar, who was involved in several aviation deals during the UPA regime, acted as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines causing the loss to national carrier Air India.

The Delhi court had granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) 7 days custody to interrogate extradited middlemen, Deepak Talwar and Rajeev Saxena, another scamster of the UPA era, accused in the VVIP chopper scam.

The agency today told the Court that Talwar received “exorbitant amounts” from Emirates, Air Arabia and Qatar Airways from June 2008 to February 2009.
ED, in its remand paper, alleged that Talwar received ‘kickbacks’ to the tune of 5 million US dollars in his “Bank of Singapore” account from Emirates (June to November 2008). Also, he allegedly received 1.5 crore US dollars from Qatar and Air Arabia (June 2008 to Feb 2009). ED has also furnished details of the accounts “directly or indirectly” controlled by Khaitan which received the payments.
ED maintained that the payment received was “very near to the time of the signing of the respective” bilateral agreements. It added that the said payments were “not usual business transactions” and the same was “basically proceeds of crime”.
The agency had registered a case against the high-profile lobbyist in May 2017, who reportedly made 100 crores during the UPA era, on charges of misusing of power by a public servant who allegedly received kickbacks to make the national carrier, Air India, give up profit-making routes and the profit-making timings in favour of national and international domestic and foreign private airlines. This, as per the agency, resulted in a huge loss of market share to Air India and helped the private domestic and foreign airlines to make financial benefits.
ED special prosecutor, Devendra Pal Singh, said that Talwar’s custody is important to ascertain his role in “association with the bilateral air service talks and the inroads made by him to influence the decisions”. He added “role of key persons and their modus operandi” needs to be extracted from Talwar. He furthered that the agency has received “voluminous incriminating material” against Talwar.
Another high-profile fugitive, Rakesh Saxena, who was extradited from UAE, along with Talwar in the same plane of the government of India on January 30, 2019, who is accused in the VVIP chopper scam, has also been facing custodial interrogation by ED.
Rajiv Saxena is accused in a money laundering case connected with the AgustaWestland deal. He had filed an anticipatory bail plea in a Delhi court last month, which the ED had opposed. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had named him in a supplementary charge sheet filed in the VVIP Chopper scam in September 2017. Saxena and his wife Shivani Saxena are directors in two Dubai based companies, while he is a director in another Mauritius based company, and it is alleged that all those companies received proceeds of the kickbacks paid in the AgustaWestland deal.
On December 4, 2018, the middleman in the VVIP chopper deal Christian Michel was extradited to India from Dubai. He has already made several sensational revelations in front of the agencies. From the names of “Italian Lady”, to “Italian Lady’s son R“. From how Christian Michel was lobbying for the Eurofighter and against the Rafale deal, to how he had unbridled access to the PMO under Congress regime, the CCS and even the investigative agencies.
Earlier, another important player of the AgustaWestland scam, lawyer Gautam Khaitan, had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Now, extradition of Rajiv Saxena to India will further boost the case where senior Congress leaders and the Gandhi family are directly named as beneficiaries.

Robert Vadra files anticipatory bail plea in Delhi court in money laundering case

OpIndia Staff
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Robert Vadra files anticipatory bail plea in Delhi court in money laundering case

Robert Vadra has filed a plea for anticipatory bail at the Patiala House court in Delhi in the money laundering case he is facing.


This move from Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law comes just days after two important middlemen in UPA era scams were extradited to India from Dubai. On the night of January 30, UAE authorities had sent AgustaWestland scam accused Rajiv Saxena and UPA era Lobbyist Deepak Talwar to India in a special flight.

Applying for anticipatory bail implies that Robert Vadra is fearing arrest by agencies soon. He is facing probes in multiple cases involving land deals and money laundering, while his close aides are also facing investigations into defence deals.

On January 8, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a fresh money laundering case against Vadra’s firm Skylight Hospitality. The case is related to alleged irregularities in land deals in Haryana’s Gurgaon in 2008. The then Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also facing probe in the case.

Robert Vadra’s former executive assistant Manoj Arora is also wanted by ED in the case, and the agency has requested the court for the issuance of an open-ended non-bailable warrant against him. According to ED, Manoj Arora is aware of overseas undeclared assets of Vadra and was instrumental in arranging funds for such properties.

Emails recovered from fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari had revealed that Manoj Arora was communicating with Bhandari’s aides regarding a luxury apartment in London on behalf of Vadra.

Vadra is also facing ED probe in Bikaner land deal case in Rajasthan, and last month the Rajasthan High Court summoned him to appear before the ED after he had ignored 3 summons issued by the agency.

Robert Vadra has sought an early hearing in the case, and the Delhi court will take up the matter tomorrow.

OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Friday, 1st February 2019

OpIndia Staff
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OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Friday, 1st February 2019

In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.

Here is what made it to news today:

1. Rahul Gandhi eats dosa in a five star hotel, friendly media spins it as a humble move

On Friday, both NDTV and India Today ended up being a laughing stock after social media users found that they had published a bizarre report glorifying Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s stopover at a restaurant to have South Indian delicacy dosa and filter coffee.

India Today even went on to mention how Rahul Gandhi is ‘often known’ to visit restaurants in ‘mostly middle class and upmarket areas’ in Delhi. Not sure whether India Today meant the Sagar Ratna Rahul Gandhi visited was middle class or upmarket since the outlet he visited is situated inside Hotel Ashok, a five-star hotel.

2. Manish Tewari makes an outlandish charge, alleges ‘parts of the budget has been leaked’

Today, when the Country was moments away from the Budget 2019 being presented, Congress leader Manish Tewari had floated a charge, that the budget has been leaked in parts to the media and others.

Manish Tewari had taken to Twitter to attach photographs and alleged that parts of the budget has been leaked to the media.

3. As extraditions continue, Vijay Mallya claims DRT has attached more than he owed, alleges harassments by banks’ UK lawyers

Fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya has stated recently in a series of tweets that the consortium of Indian banks has already attached much more than the amount he owed them. He also stated that the banks are now trying to prevent him from paying his tax dues in the UK.

Mallya alleged that every morning, he wakes up to the news of another attachment by the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) of his properties in India. He added that the total value of the properties attached so far has crossed Rs 13,000 crores already. Mallya alleged that as the banks have claimed that the total debts he owes to them stand at Rs 9000 crores including all dues and taxes, the value of attachments is now the more than the due amount.

4. Rajasthan: Gehlot government blames BJP for not being able to implement loan waiver that Congress promised

The Congress in Rajasthan has come up with a way to blame the previous BJP regime for leaving the state in massive debt, and are citing this as the reason behind them being unsuccessful to keep up their promise of pre-poll promise of farm loan waiver.

CM Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said that the farm loan waiver involving cooperative banks would amount to Rs 18,000 crore at a time when the state was caught in debt of Rs 3 lakh crore left by the former BJP government.

5. West Bengal: CBI summons Derek O’Brien, grills Mamata Banerjee’s close aide over sale of her paintings to chit fund companies

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday, have questioned Manik Majumdar, a close aide of the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, about the sale proceeds of the paintings and even sent a notice to her party’s MP Derek O’Brien.

The CBI has reportedly questioned Majumdar over how the proceeds of the CM’s paintings were utilised. CBI officials have stated that they are “Investigating the route of chit fund money in various directions so as to the find out the larger conspiracy angle as has been directed by the Supreme Court of India.”

6. Fact-check: Congress lies profusely in an attempt to ‘fact-check’ Piyush Goyal’s Budget 2019 speech

Acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented a significant Interim Budget 2019 today where he announced numerous benefits to farmers, the middle class and MSMEs. With the various announcements that were made, it was natural for the Congress party to feel jittery about its electoral prospects ahead of General Elections later this year.

In a thread, it has made some quite a few misleading arguments to downplay the significance of Piyush Goyal’s speech.

7. Indiaspend’s faulty ‘FactChecker’ spreads fake news about Budget 2019 while ‘fact-checking’ Piyush Goyal’s speech

Today, after Piyush Goyal’s Budget 2019 speech, factchecker.in decided to ‘fact-check’ the speech, and in the process, ended up spreading fake news themselves.

In one of their tweets, they claimed that acting Finance Minister lied when he said ‘under Make in India, mobile and parts manufacturing have increased from 2 to more than 268 providing huge job opportunities’. However, FactChecker.in conveniently uses data from August 2018 to brand Piyush Goyal’s assertions as a lie. If one digs a little further, one realises that according to November 2018 data, Piyush Goyal’s assertions are right on the mark.

8. Serial petitioner advocate M L Sharma moves Supreme Court against interim budget, challenges validity

Serial petitioner advocate M L Sharma, who is known for his petitions rejected by courts, has yet another filed a PIL, and this time his target is the interim budget presented by finance minister Piyush Goyal today.

Challenging the validity of the interim budget in his petition, advocate ML Sharma had filed a petition against it at the Supreme Court saying that there is no provision for an interim budget in the constitution. He says that the budget is a fraud on the constitution.

9. Freshly upgraded by HAL, IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft crashes leaving both pilots dead

In an extremely tragic incidence, the Indian Air Force has confirmed that two senior pilots were killed after the Mirage 2000, which was on an acceptance trial after an upgrade by the HAL, crashed at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport at Bengaluru this morning.

One of the pilots landed back on the wreckage after ejecting, while the second pilot died in an operation theatre. The deceased pilots have been identified as Squadron leader Sameer Abrol and Squadron leader Siddarth Negi.

10. Rahul Gandhi finally comments on Budget 2019, but not without lying and obfuscating

Congress President Rahul Gandhi lies. And he has no qualms about it. After the presentation of the interim budget earlier today, Congress President took to Twitter in an attempt to mock assured income support promised to the farmers.

11. Budget 2019: The economics governing the Interim Budget 2019

The interim budget for the year 2019 presented by the acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal included a range of comprehensive measures encompassing all sections of the society with the aim to set the country on a robust growth trajectory. The salient features of the interim budget 2019 reinforce the government’s firm commitment to provide enhanced investment in Social, Education, Health, Defence and Agriculture sectors.

12. Budget 2019: Piyush Goyal, PM Modi hail the contributions of the middle class in country’s economy, bring tax relief

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal before announcing the sops for the middle class while presenting the interim budget for next financial year, thanked 3 crore middle-class taxpayers for their immense contribution to the nation building. He said that because of the middle class, the individual belonging to the poor and marginalised section, has access to a better way of life.

After the budget speech by Piyush Goyal, PM Modi also praised the contributions of the middle class.

Budget 2019: Direct Tax collection exceeds expectations by Rs 50,000 crore

OpIndia Staff
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Budget 2019: Direct Tax collection exceeds expectations by Rs 50,000 crore

While the naysayers are busy attacking the interim budget 2019 presented by the Union Minister Piyush Goyal, in the hope to discover minor shortcomings and use it to target Modi government’s inefficiencies, a mere cursory glance at the budget reveals an astonishing increase in the Direct Tax collections in the financial year 2018-19.

Estimated at Rs 11.50 lakh crores, the direct tax collection exceeded expectations by Rs 50000 crores to reach Rs 12 lakh crores. The government had earlier determined tax collection of Rs 11.50 lakh crores which includes corporate tax and personal income tax. The government has estimated the FY 2019-20 Direct Tax collection at Rs 13.80 lakh crores, out of which it aims to raise Rs 7.60 lakh crores from Corporate Tax and Rs 6.20 lakh crores from personal Income Tax.


The government is upbeat about the estimated figures for FY 2019-20 and has therefore fixed the numbers higher than those attained in the current fiscal. In the year ending March 2019, Rs 6.71 lakh crore is estimated to be collected from corporate tax and Rs 5.29 lakh crore from the income tax.

The numbers are in stark contrast to the gloomy picture that the opposition has been trying to paint for months regarding the state of the economy. The increased corporate tax and augmented personal income tax testifies that the policies implemented by the Modi government has revved up the economic buoyancy in the country and the nation is poised to achieve higher growth trajectory in the coming years.

Budget 2019: former PM Manmohan Singh says farm and tax benefits announced in the budget will have implications in elections

OpIndia Staff
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Budget 2019: former PM Manmohan Singh says farm and tax benefits announced in the budget will have implications in elections

The Narendra Modi government’s Interim Budget 2019, presented by the Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Parliament today had some big giveaways for the middle class, small farmers and the rural population.

The interim budget was revered by the ailing Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, who called it “unquestionably Pro-Growth, Fiscally prudent, Pro-Farmer, Pro-Poor”.


However, the Opposition, as expected, are not seeming very happy and are targeting the ruling government, calling the budget yet another “election jumla”.

Former Prime Minister and Congress veteran, Manmohan Singh on being asked about the big income tax gift for the middle class and farmers, was quick on critiquing the budget, calling it “an election budget”. Former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that the concessions provided to farmers and the middle-class will have implications on the general elections due by May.

Piyush Goyal, reading out the budget in parliament, after making a series of big announcements had said, “this is not just an Interim Budget, this is a vehicle for developmental transformation of the nation.”

The Interim Budget 2019 have some big endowments, especially for the middle class and the farmers of the country.

  • Those with an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh will not have to pay income tax.
  • Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, farmers with less than 2 hectares of land will be given ₹6,000 per annum towards income support for procurement of inputs.
  • A pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000 too was announced. They will have an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 after they retire at 60.
  • The government has decided to hike the gratuity limit from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh from the next financial year.
  • Income tax refunds will be processed within 24 hours and released immediately.

Though the populace is expected to be content with the Interim Budget, which prima-facie appears to be a pro-people budget, the usual suspects are already out there making false affirmations against the Modi government.

Former finance minister with the UPA government P Chidambaram, who himself is under the scanner facing corruption and money laundering charges, trying to take claim for the pro-poor budget, slammed Goyal for “copying Congress’ declaration that the poor have the first right to the resources of the country”.


Well, the Congress who for all this while have been favouring ‘fair share for minorities’ and claiming that the Muslims have the first claim on the resources have swiftly shifted goals, taking credit for the pro-poor stance adopted by the BJP government, in their futile attempt to woo the public.

Budget 2019: The economics governing the Interim Budget 2019

OpIndia Staff
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Budget 2019: The economics governing the Interim Budget 2019

The interim budget for the year 2019 presented by the acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal included a range of comprehensive measures encompassing all sections of the society with the aim to set the country on a robust growth trajectory. The salient features of the interim budget 2019 reinforce the government’s firm commitment to provide enhanced investment in Social, Education, Health, Defence and Agriculture sectors.

Farmers with land holdings less than 2 hectares were offered with a new scheme- PM Kisaan Sammaan Nidhi Yojana which offers them a guaranteed Rs 6000 of yearly income directly transferred to their bank accounts. A provision of a mega pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector was included in the budget. For the middle class, a full tax rebate of income tax for income up to ₹5 lakh was announced. Apart from these, welfare schemes being extended to nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes augmented Defence expenditure and increased funds outlay for OROP implementation were declared. While rolling out the interim budget 2019 in the parliament today, Piyush Goyal also laid down 10 important dimensions for ‘Vision 2030’, the reforms the government would implement that could build a developed India by 2030.

Now, let us delve into the economics of the budget 2019 and how the government of India will fulfil the promises and declarations it made in the budget speech:

The Receipts and Expenditure are the most significant parameters in determining the implementation of the policies outlined by the government of India in the budget. The figures of Receipts and Expenditure aid us in arriving at other significant factors such as Fiscal Deficit (FD), Revenue Deficit (RD), Effective Revenue Deficit (ERD), and the Primary Deficit (PD). These parameters play a vital role in setting strict guidelines for the government to plan its upcoming budget and apprises it of the funds available for the government to spend on different sectors to drive the economy.

Notes:

  1. GDP for BE 2019-2020 has been projected at Rs 21007439 crores assuming 11.5% growth over the estimated GDP of Rs 18840731 crores for 2018-19 (RE).
  2. Individual items in this document may not sum up to the totals due to rounding off.
  3.  Figures in parenthesis are as a percentage of GDP.

As per the above table, the Revenue Receipts estimates for the fiscal year 2019-2020 stands at Rs 1977693 crores which include Tax Revenue as well as non-Tax revenue. Revenue generation from Capital receipts are expected to be around Rs 806507 crores, that takes the Total receipts to Rs 2784200 crores.

The total expenditure presented in the budget 2019 is Rs 2784200 crores which is Rs 3,26,695 crores more than the previous year’s Rs 2457235 crores indicates the government’s pledge to grant substantial investment to spur growth in the country while maintaining the fiscal prudence with Fiscal Deficit 3.4% of the GDP. With the Revenue Deficit of Rs 470214 crores, it is slated to be maintained at 2.2% of the GDP.

Where does the money come from?

Source of Money for GoI

The above-mentioned pie-chart describes in detail the distribution of the source of money the government of India receives. The biggest source of income for the government is GST and Corporation-Tax which are both estimated at 21% each of the total receipts. The government hopes to secure 19% of the investments through Borrowings and 17% of it from the Income Tax Treasury. The other sources of receipts include Customs, Union Excise Duties, Non-debt capital receipts and Non-Tax Revenue.

How is the money spent?

Money spent by GoI

Looking at the chart, a major part of the expenditure goes into paying the States’ share of taxes and duties pegged at about 23%. The GoI will spend 9% of the total expenditure on Central Sponsored Schemes such as ‘PM Kisaan Samman Yojana’. About 8% of the expenditure will be spent in the defence sector, while a large chunk of the expense is consumed by paying up the Interest Payments. 8% is allocated to miscellaneous expenditure, in case any revision is required in the current estimates.

Around Rs. 1,66,883 crores will be transferred to states under states’ share of duties and taxes. Rs 3,05,296 crores allocated to the Defence sector, for development of North-East Rs 3000 crore has been assigned. Education sector gets a boost with an investment of Rs 93848 crore by the government. Strengthening its commitment to sustainable sources of Energy, the Modi government has allocated Rs 44,101 crores to the Energy sector. External Affairs get Rs 16,062 crores while Finance gets Rs 19812 crores. Rs 49,337 crores have been earmarked for carrying out Social Welfare activities while a reserve of Rs 1,38,962 is kept for Rural Transformation.

Health sector gets a whopping Rs 63,538 crores of investment. The Agriculture and allied activities sector will get funds worth Rs 1,49,981 crores to address growing farm distress. The commerce industry gets Rs 27660 crores while the Home Affairs has been allocated Rs 1,03,927 crores. The Interests to be paid up by the government is about Rs 6,65,061 crores. The government has dished out Rs 21,549 crores to the IT and Telecom sector while assigning Rs 26,237 crores to the Scientific Department. Transport sector gets Rs 1,56,187 crores and the Tax administration is allocated Rs 1,17,285 crores. The Urban Development has been allocated Rs 48,032 crores and Rs 15042 crores to Union Territories. For miscellaneous, remaining Rs 75822 crores have been pledged. The total expenditure amounts to Rs 27,84,200 crores.

The above table and charts explain in detail how the government plans to utilise the funds available at its disposal to fulfil the commitments laid out by Union Minister Piyush Goyal in his budget 2019 speech. The entire report can be read here.

The Interim Budget presented by the Acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has certainly managed to deliver on the growing farmer distress, rising middle-class concerns, as well as the soaring Defence sector demands. It also succeeded in assuaging fears among Small businesses by offering them a plethora of concessions. The budget also endeavoured to include sections of society hitherto ignored in the previous budgets such as nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

Freshly upgraded by HAL, IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft crashes leaving both pilots dead

OpIndia Staff
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Freshly upgraded by HAL, IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft crashes leaving both pilots dead

In an extremely tragic incidence, the Indian Air Force has confirmed that two senior pilots were killed after the Mirage 2000, which was on an acceptance trial after an upgrade by the HAL, crashed at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport at Bengaluru this morning.


One of the pilots landed back on the wreckage after ejecting, while the second pilot died in an operation theatre. The deceased pilots have been identified as Squadron leader Sameer Abrol and Squadron leader Siddarth Negi.

The IAF, in a statement, confirmed that “Today morning a Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft on an acceptance sortie after an upgrade by HAL crashed at HAL airport, Bengaluru. Both occupants sustained fatal injuries. Further details are awaited. The investigation into the cause of the accident is being ordered.”

The state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) makes and upgrades aircraft for training and combat operations of the IAF as the country’s sole defence giant. It also maintains and operates the military airport in Bengaluru.

Recently the IAF had raised concerns over the production delays on the part of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which according to the Air Force would seriously impact the country’s air combat strength.

The IAF who were particularly concerned with the upgrades to the Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighter fleets, had asserted that HAL has not been able to meet delivery schedules pointing to the two to six-year delays. It said that it expects the upgraded aircraft to be available only by 2024 now. It was mentioned that as per schedule, 21 upgraded Mirage 2000 jets should have delivered but HAL had managed to deliver only 6 after three production delay.

Recently Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa at a seminar in New Delhi had also spoken against the efficiency of HAL by stating that the IAF had sought its first 20 LCA Tejas aircraft as per requirements issued in 1985. Even then, the HAL has been able to manufacture only 10 fighters of these 20.

The Mirage 2000 is a multirole, single engine, fourth generation fighter jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation. HAL is in the process of upgrading it.

Interim Budget 2019: A bridge towards our vibrant future

Karan
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Interim Budget 2019: A bridge towards our vibrant future

A lot will be written about the Interim Budget 2019 over the next couple of days- some may applaud it, some may call it a “political budget” while others may continue to criticize it just as they’ve criticized everything that the government has done over the last couple of days. But the budget is nothing beyond a simple extension of the economic policies that the government has been following since the last four and a half years and it is a simple extension of the larger vision with which the Prime Minister of India led his 2014 campaign.

In many ways, the budget is historic in the true sense of the word as it recognizes for the first time that India’s approach to the farming sector has not worked. This recognition should have come decades earlier, however, for petty political considerations, successive governments have failed to recognize policy blunders and thus, they’ve not dared to correct them. There is no doubt that India’s Minimum Support Price policy has not helped in providing “income support” to India’s farmers, yet successive governments have relied upon this policy for a prolonged period of time.

There was an urgent need to move towards providing income support to farmers and the government has rightfully recognized it and provisioned for it by providing Rs. 6000 per annum to small and marginal farmers. This is significant as it recognizes the need to uplift the small and marginal farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land from abject poverty. A proposal for Targeted Basic Income by Dr Surjit Bhalla and me had advocated covering the entire poor population irrespective of whether they were rural poor or urban poor, however, it is reassuring to recognize that at least the government is partially accepting the concept of Targeted Basic Income. This may very well be a step towards the Targeted Basic Income program in the coming years.

Most commentators will look at the increase in income tax slabs as a move that is political in nature, but such a view is extremely myopic in nature. Successive governments have highlighted the low tax base in India, but they’ve been unable to correct the situation. The disruptive reforms of the government such as GST & Demonetization have led to a significant increase in India’s tax base. During demonetization, it was argued that eventually, a higher tax base will result in the tax burden being evenly spread across people. The interim budget witnessed this become a reality as the government gave major tax breaks to the middle class of India. This came with the government recognizing the contribution of the middle-class taxpayers towards some of its flagship redistribution schemes.

Another important aspect in this budget is that it demonstrates a vision till 2030 and provides a very clear dimension for evaluation of the progress on this front. In that manner, the budget rightfully looks ahead at our vibrant future. A lot of times it has been stated that the policies of the current government cannot be looked in isolation. This budget rightfully ensures that the continuity of policies is maintained. This is very important to ensure that there is a consistent policy framework that is in place throughout the country. We’ve moved a long way from the days of policy paralysis and this consistent policy framework is ensuring that investors and citizens can take decisions without any fear of uncertain changes.

The government continues to be committed to the program of fiscal consolidation and it has decided to stick to the 40% target for India’s debt to GDP ratio. This reiterates the commitment of the government towards strong macroeconomic fundamentals. It is evident with this budget that the government wants growth, but it also wants to focus on redistribution of the benefits of the growth to ensure that India’s growth is inclusive in nature. The fine print of the budget also suggests that the government has a clear sense of purpose in terms of its expenditure towards the development of future-ready infrastructure.

With GST in, the budget is no longer a document that tells us what will be cheaper or what will be expensive going forward, but it gives us a direction for our future. In that sense, today’s budget has very well placed the foundation for higher growth in the future while it redistributed some of the benefits of the past reforms.

Serial petitioner advocate M L Sharma moves Supreme Court against interim budget, challenges validity

OpIndia Staff
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Serial petitioner advocate M L Sharma moves Supreme Court against interim budget, challenges validity

Serial petitioner advocate M L Sharma, who is known for his petitions rejected by courts, has yet another filed a PIL, and this time his target is the interim budget presented by finance minister Piyush Goyal today.

Challenging the validity of the interim budget in his petition, advocate ML Sharma had filed a petition against it at the Supreme Court saying that there is no provision for an interim budget in the constitution. He says that the budget is a fraud on the constitution. Sharma also alleges that government has obtained the signature of the President on the budget fraudulently, as he was not informed that there is no provision for interim budget in the constitution.

Advocate M L Sharma added that the interim budget was a fraud on parliament as it was presented by the government for political benefits.

Just yesterday, M L Sharma’s petition against appointment of former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana as director general of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security was junked by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had said that the petition had no coherence, as it included multiple issues with no connection with each other.

Earlier too, several petitions by Sharma has been dismissed by courts, and he also has been fined and reprimanded for filing frivolous petitions. This petition against the interim budget filed by him is also destined to be rejected.

Interim budgets presented by previous governments

Successive governments in the past had presented interim budgets in their last year of rule. Moreover, the apex court is unlikely to interfere in a matter which is fully in the domain of legislature.

Rahul Gandhi finally comments on Budget 2019, but not without lying and obfuscating

Nirwa Mehta
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Rahul Gandhi finally comments on Budget 2019, but not without lying and obfuscating

Congress President Rahul Gandhi lies. And he has no qualms about it. After the presentation of the interim budget earlier today, Congress President took to Twitter in an attempt to mock assured income support promised to the farmers.


Rahul Gandhi claimed that Rs 17 per day to farmers as assured income support is ‘an insult’ to farmers. With Rs 6,000 a year, for farmers with less than 2 hectares land, this amount will provide support for the procurement of inputs. This would be over and above the other subsidies, they may already be getting. So effectively, the actual benefit to the 12 crore small farmers may be much more than Rs 17.

Later, while addressing media, he said that PM Modi could ‘waive off’ Rs 3.5 lakh crore loan of 15 people but give only Rs 17 per day to farmers.


This is a lie on multiple accounts. First of all, no loans of ’15 people’ or any industrialists were ‘waived off’. The bad loans were written off. There is a difference between loan waiver and loan write off. Not just that. Rahul Gandhi cannot even stick to one figure of the loan ‘waived off’. It has gone from 1.1 lakh crore to 3.5 lakh crore in a span of less than 2 years. As usual, he provides no data to back his claims.

But seems like Rahul Gandhi is taking lessons in the economy from the farmer of the family, his brother in law Robert Vadra. In 2011, Congress-led UPA government had said that if you spend Rs 32 a day you can’t be poor. The Planning Commission had then told the Supreme Court that anyone spending Rs 26 a day in villages and Rs 32 a day in the city is not poor.

Read also: What will it take for Congress to be described as an elitist and casteist organization?

But mocking the poor is not the only thing Congress and its leaders are good at. In 2013, displaying the elitist nature that is inherent in Congress leaders, Congress leader Raj Babbar had said that poverty had come down even though prices had gone up. To justify his statement, he had said that in Mumbai he could get a ‘full meal’ for Rs 12. This combined with the various elitist comments where Congress leaders have mocked Prime Minister Modi’s humble beginnings as a tea-seller, talks a lot about Congress’ culture. No wonder Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ continues to be Congress’ slogan even after 40 years.

Read also: Dear Shashi Tharoor, today a ‘chaiwala’ is the Prime Minister, not because of, but despite Jawaharlal Nehru

Moreover, Congress President accusing anyone else of insulting farmers is a bit rich considering newly formed Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have not been having a good time keeping promises to farmers. From speculations of loan waiver scams in both, Madhya Pradesh as well as Rajasthan, where non-existent names were found in the list of beneficiaries to waiving off as little as Rs 13 against a loan of Rs 24,000, Congress has done nothing but mock farmers. Despite the tall promises of loan waiver, the farmers in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka continue to commit suicide because of debt burden.

Rahul Gandhi has developed a habit to mouth-off platitudes which in reality, mean paltry little. He lies, he obfuscates and confuses and hopes something, anything would stick and earn him brownie points. And as we get closer to 2019, the malaise would just get deeper.

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