Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budget. Show all posts
Monday, July 06, 2009
Boojet 2009
No, I will not bore you with incredulous stories of how the government will be taxing your potty now. I started getting ET Now on Airtel DTH yesterday so today morning because I kinda got heldf up, I thought, might as well watch the budget at home than in office or some large conference hall. After all, I do have a halfway-decent LCD panel (grumble, grumble - duties have come down, though it really wouldn't have hit the price that much). Anyway, this much is for certain, CNBC-TV18 landed one helluva' blow with their first wave of guests - Uday Kotak, Deepak Parekh and KV Kamath. And ET Now had Arnab Goswami talking (versus Mitali, is that even fair competition - why Arnab? Why not Andy, Abheek or Sri? They sound a lot less shrill). Guess who won the battle for the remote in the first wave. ET Now's guests were so-so and the other channels were lost in the water. Don't get me wrong, I do like what I have seen on ET Now until now, but today was the battle of the channels. And while the evening shows might be different, and you do watch the business channels in the evening on a day like today, I will be 35,000 feet in the air during prime-time. Not that I think that I'll be missing much, though a good bitch-fest is always fun!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Damp Squib
Yes there was the build-up, the telly channels and the newspapers were all excited. ToI even did a massive fluff piece on Mukherjee - comparing India today with Indira Gandhi's India. But what did everyone expect - a vote on account is just an exercise to keep things running till the elections happen. The elections are the big thing and that was made clear by the last couple of sentences of Mukherjee's speech...
"I have no doubt that when the time comes, our people will recognize the hand that made it all possible. The hand that alone can help our nation on the road to peace and prosperity. "
Imagine if the Indian National Congress still used its original symbol - "...the cow that made it all possible..." would have been a riot - but that said only the Congress really has an election symbol that lends it to this turn of speech.
About this post on the 'secular' Commies cozying up to Islamo-facists - yes, I was as surprised as any to discover that The Statesman still survives and the silence by the liberal Delhi news channels - the saviours of the secular identity of this country is mind-blowing.
"I have no doubt that when the time comes, our people will recognize the hand that made it all possible. The hand that alone can help our nation on the road to peace and prosperity. "
Imagine if the Indian National Congress still used its original symbol - "...the cow that made it all possible..." would have been a riot - but that said only the Congress really has an election symbol that lends it to this turn of speech.
About this post on the 'secular' Commies cozying up to Islamo-facists - yes, I was as surprised as any to discover that The Statesman still survives and the silence by the liberal Delhi news channels - the saviours of the secular identity of this country is mind-blowing.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Best newspaper Budget coverage...
Yes, and the award goes to... The Times of India. Or so I think. The Economic Times lost the plot, Papermint was a bit too understated, EchTee didn't get the plot. The other business dailies weren't bad, but nobody exactly reads them. The channels yesterday did go a bit overboard, but surprisingly I thought that Undie Profit did a fairly decent job everytime they did not cut away to the BOmbay studio audience, but CNBC was still very good. Didn't watch the other channels so I won't comment.
What I will comment about is the budget. In his interviews, where Chiddu has learnt from Dubya (and Star Wars) he has defended the Rs 60,000 crore waiver package to farmers. His best quote I heard was in my publications interview (though we edited this bit out), "You are either for the farmer or against the farmer!" when he was asked a question on this move of his encouraging delinquency (he did not give one straight answer and looked terribly pissed off). Absolutisms are very dangerous things, but anyway. While I do not think a lot of thought has been put into the waiver, and I'm sure Chiddu (Chodu) will think of the way to raise the funds to pay off the banks after he believes he will re-elected (hopefully not, because by all indicators, the AIADMK will sweep TN) and hopefully, the rest of the clowns will lose too.
But, while the waiver is a political stunt, is it a very bad thing? Is it as bad as promising electricity for two hours and then delivering sub-standard electricity. Well, the problem is that a large majority of Indian farmers are still unbanked (and lend money from dalals, who I don't think are as generous as Chids out here) and while this will undoubtedly help farmers, lifting them away from a cycle of debt I also think that banks might now be loathe to give out loans in rural areas. Anyway, the loan only covers 'agricultural loans', and many farmers, in places like Vidarbha are indebted because of their other loans, to buy things such as motorcycles. Though, I did think that the folks from Hero Honda were quite happy since farmers will now be able to afford more bikes and drive themselves to indebtedness on a new cycle altogether.
Of course, because the waiver is being done super-fast, presumably for an October election, there might not be time to teach the farmers the virtues of fiscal discipline, which has to be done. I also believe that this scheme will see a high-level of corruption down the line and actual implementation could be a challenge, which could blow on the UPA's face.
BREAKING : We knew Chiddu had a short fuse, but he reportedly walked out from Raghav Behl's interview with him today on CNBC (which will be edited out now) and Shereen was sent to scamper after Chids with her smile. Heard that did not work either. If you have a video of the walk-out please to mail across or send me the YouTube link.
But anyway, check out the trailer from Tarsem Singh's new movie called 'The Fall' which was shot extensively in Jodhpur and Ladakh. The plot might end up being horrible, but what amazing imagery!
What I will comment about is the budget. In his interviews, where Chiddu has learnt from Dubya (and Star Wars) he has defended the Rs 60,000 crore waiver package to farmers. His best quote I heard was in my publications interview (though we edited this bit out), "You are either for the farmer or against the farmer!" when he was asked a question on this move of his encouraging delinquency (he did not give one straight answer and looked terribly pissed off). Absolutisms are very dangerous things, but anyway. While I do not think a lot of thought has been put into the waiver, and I'm sure Chiddu (Chodu) will think of the way to raise the funds to pay off the banks after he believes he will re-elected (hopefully not, because by all indicators, the AIADMK will sweep TN) and hopefully, the rest of the clowns will lose too.
But, while the waiver is a political stunt, is it a very bad thing? Is it as bad as promising electricity for two hours and then delivering sub-standard electricity. Well, the problem is that a large majority of Indian farmers are still unbanked (and lend money from dalals, who I don't think are as generous as Chids out here) and while this will undoubtedly help farmers, lifting them away from a cycle of debt I also think that banks might now be loathe to give out loans in rural areas. Anyway, the loan only covers 'agricultural loans', and many farmers, in places like Vidarbha are indebted because of their other loans, to buy things such as motorcycles. Though, I did think that the folks from Hero Honda were quite happy since farmers will now be able to afford more bikes and drive themselves to indebtedness on a new cycle altogether.
Of course, because the waiver is being done super-fast, presumably for an October election, there might not be time to teach the farmers the virtues of fiscal discipline, which has to be done. I also believe that this scheme will see a high-level of corruption down the line and actual implementation could be a challenge, which could blow on the UPA's face.
BREAKING : We knew Chiddu had a short fuse, but he reportedly walked out from Raghav Behl's interview with him today on CNBC (which will be edited out now) and Shereen was sent to scamper after Chids with her smile. Heard that did not work either. If you have a video of the walk-out please to mail across or send me the YouTube link.
But anyway, check out the trailer from Tarsem Singh's new movie called 'The Fall' which was shot extensively in Jodhpur and Ladakh. The plot might end up being horrible, but what amazing imagery!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Non-Event
Imagine what the TV channels are feeling with hours of programming planned into the wee hours of the night on the budget, but thankfully, this budget turned out to be the non-event everybody expected it to be, it was nothing more than a glorified election speech for Uttar Pradesh. But given the soft spot ChiCho (don't ask me to expand) has for North Indian lasses, his Hindi makes my Hindi look good. At least I can read the language, I just suffer from the Bengali's curse - a total inability to comprehend gender in Hindi (surprising since my father's Hindi is pretty much perfect and he didn't leave Calcutta until he was 17).
As the managing director of one large company told me, "Phus tha na? Aaj office mein rehna chahiye tha muje." But that said, wile the budget didn't do much for industry, it did have some decent ideas for the rural economy and healthcare. Not a bad budget, but essentially a non-event. I figure increasingly that policy pronouncements will be made through the year and not on 28.02 anymore. Nice day actually, the weather has turned again with it getting surprisingly cold, windy and wet.
As the managing director of one large company told me, "Phus tha na? Aaj office mein rehna chahiye tha muje." But that said, wile the budget didn't do much for industry, it did have some decent ideas for the rural economy and healthcare. Not a bad budget, but essentially a non-event. I figure increasingly that policy pronouncements will be made through the year and not on 28.02 anymore. Nice day actually, the weather has turned again with it getting surprisingly cold, windy and wet.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Budgetary woes!
Not mine, if I did start on that, it would just be a fusillade against credit card companies and my inherent consumerism, but on the entire Budget tamasha on TV. And find the entire thing fairly fascinating, at a time as India gets more and more corporatised, people are still going bonkers over the Budget. I mean what is the worst that can happen, Chiddu can tax our pants off so that he can fund Loha Lady's pet projects of handing more money to her operatives in the rural areas in Congress-ruled states, but at the end of the day the BJP-ruled states end up dispersing the money the best. Anyway, this isn't about politics, but just the insanity about Budget reporting.
Back before the 1980's actually, back before 1991, the second-most powerful person in the country was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission as we lived in our socialist utopia with a degree of controlled growth. Even though Maruti's sales were shooting through the roof, nobody could see (and this despite MUL being a government-owned concern back then) that there was a need for opening up the economy.
1991 changed that.
And for a decade after that budgets became sacred, but as the government decontrolled more and more of the economy and duties and taxes became more rationalised, the last few budgets have been rather boring. But don't tell the media that! half the budget reporting you will read is just hyperbole and even more hyperbole, to the extent that they make Elizabethan playwrights and poets look silly. However, that doesn't mean I will forget my first ever budget as a reporter, for one very particular reason - Godhra. I think the 2002 Budget was the first one that papers had to take a call on, and they took the right call.
From what I have heard, some dailies are reducing their coverage (not ET, because they are still in Papermint battle mode), because they've realised that it is Reddy's pronouncements at the RBI are inherently more important than Chidambaram's Tamil quotes. And that, is the way it should be. Now, if we could decontrol petroleum and we'll get somewhere!
Anyway, I've been pretty tied-up, but that should ease up in the coming few days, and you should see a few more posts. And anyway, for the first time in years, I don't have Budget duty! There is a good guy somewhere up there!
Back before the 1980's actually, back before 1991, the second-most powerful person in the country was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission as we lived in our socialist utopia with a degree of controlled growth. Even though Maruti's sales were shooting through the roof, nobody could see (and this despite MUL being a government-owned concern back then) that there was a need for opening up the economy.
1991 changed that.
And for a decade after that budgets became sacred, but as the government decontrolled more and more of the economy and duties and taxes became more rationalised, the last few budgets have been rather boring. But don't tell the media that! half the budget reporting you will read is just hyperbole and even more hyperbole, to the extent that they make Elizabethan playwrights and poets look silly. However, that doesn't mean I will forget my first ever budget as a reporter, for one very particular reason - Godhra. I think the 2002 Budget was the first one that papers had to take a call on, and they took the right call.
From what I have heard, some dailies are reducing their coverage (not ET, because they are still in Papermint battle mode), because they've realised that it is Reddy's pronouncements at the RBI are inherently more important than Chidambaram's Tamil quotes. And that, is the way it should be. Now, if we could decontrol petroleum and we'll get somewhere!
Anyway, I've been pretty tied-up, but that should ease up in the coming few days, and you should see a few more posts. And anyway, for the first time in years, I don't have Budget duty! There is a good guy somewhere up there!
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