Morning Brief: Centre Revises GDP Growth Rate To 7.2 Per Cent For 2017-18, 8.2 Per Cent For 2016-17; ‘Interim’ Budget Today; And More

Good Morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news brief for today.

Centre Revises GDP Growth Rate For 2017-18 To 7.2 Per Cent

According to the revised numbers put out by the government, the Indian economy grew at 8.2 per cent in 2016-17 and at 7.1 per cent in 2017-18, The Indian Express has reported. For 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, the growth rate has been revised to 6.4 per cent, 7.4 per cent and 8.0 per cent in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively from 6.1 per cent, 7.1 per cent and 8.1 per cent.

New numbers for 2016-17 and 2017-18 suggest that the headwinds to growth due to Demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Act were not as strong as earlier GDP estimates showed. The Central Statistics Office’s Advance estimate pegs the GDP growth rate for 2018-19 at 7.2 per cent.

‘Interim’ Budget Today

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, who has been given additional charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries in the absence of Arun Jaitley, will present an “interim budget” in the Lok Sabha today. Usually, in an election year, governments seek a vote-on-account for four months to keep the wheels running. However, the Narendra Modi government is widely expected to break tradition by going beyond a vote-on-account.

Reports suggest that the budget may have a cash relief package for farmers which involves direct benefit transfer of Rs 12,000 per year, The Pioneer reports, adding that the agriculture budget could see a 14 per cent increase.

NSC Asks J&K Government For Data On Property Left By Pandits In Valley

The National Security Council, a body that advises the Prime Minister on matters of strategic interests, has asked the government of Jammu and Kashmir to provide it data on the property left by the Pandits when they fled from the Valley due to threats from Islamic extremists. The body has not only sought details about such property under the control of the state, but also of “distress sales”.

The body, which had written to the state government on 14 January, has not disclosed why it needs this data. Officials in the Valley have said that the data is available at the tehsil level, but collation would take time. lt may take a minimum of 15 days,” Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Shahid Choudhary, said.

Ex-CBI Chief Alok Verma To Faces Action

The government has put on hold all retirement benefits of Alok Verma and is likely initiate disciplinary proceedings against him for not taking charge as Director General, Fire Services after he was sacked as the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation by a panel led the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This development comes after the Home Ministry, in a letter dated 30 January, directed Verma to join the post “immediately”. Verma, who was to retire as CBI Director on 31 January, did not take charge. He responded to the letter arguing that his date of birth is 14 July 1957, which implies that the date of superannuation was 31 July 2017. He said that he “was only serving as CBI director until 31 January 2019 as it was a fixed tenure role”.

Jaggi Explains Why Budgets Are Quickly Becoming Irrelevant

On The Budget Day

There’s Little ‘Interim’ About It Barring ‘Interim Finance Minister’ Piyush Goyal: The only element that is ‘interim’ about the budget is that it is being supervised in its final stages by Piyush Goyal, who is the ‘interim’ Finance Minister.

If At All India Has To Introduce Basic Income, It Should Be Only For The Economically Vulnerable: A targeted or non-universal programme aimed at assuring basic income to people of only the vulnerable sections will work.

Reality Check: Were Indian Farmers Really Robbed Of Rs 45 Lakh Crore? The real story is not that the farmers have been plundered of Rs 45 lakh crore, but that the money intended to benefit them actually ended up ruining their future because politicians sought short-term electoral benefits.

Interim Budget On Steroids Could Have Tax Proposals: Almost all future regular budgets will look like interim budgets, and this would mean the real work of taxation will happen outside budget day speeches.

Other Must Read Opinions And Columns

Jind Bypoll Result: Five Takeaways From The BJP’s Historic Win In Jat Heartland: The next assembly election is Bharatiya Janata Party’s to lose.

How TN Media Is Letting Chess Prodigy Gukesh Down As He Makes Waves On Global Stage: The chess world sees Gukesh as another bright prospect from India, following in the footsteps of champions like Viswanathan Anand.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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