Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced farm loan waiver of Rs 60,000 crore in this union Budget. Any decision that protects the right of the farming community is welcome. But before we congratulate him, some issues need to be resolved. The government should take proper care that every package it announces, should reach the target group. The agricultural sector in India is unstructured and most of the farmers are in the clutches of powerful moneylenders. So, the government, instead of playing vote bank politics should work on the grass root level and see that proper justice is done, The productivity of land in our country in not good. The farmers lack good irrigation facilities and most of the land in our country is unproductive. Illiteracy is another big issue among farmers and so they are vulnerable and likely to be attacked by the powerful moneylenders and local bankers. But the government, instead of taking a serious note of these, has taken a surface view. All steps have been taken to woo voters, as this is an election year.

Finally, Finance Minister has done what he is best at – using his economic genius. Last year, the FM presented a tepid Budget with very little for everybody, killing the whole excitement. Presenting the UPA government’s last Budget he has surprised everyone. Rather than performing under the pressure of the coalition, Chidambaram has shown the flexibility and given a largely populist Budget. Tax collections have gone up. As a common taxpayer I feel easy with the raising of the Income Tax slabs to Rs 1.5 lakh. Women, senior citizens have been given fair tax exemptions. The Budget gives immense relief to taxpayers by raising slabs. Farmers too are happy with the debt waiver. Cheering him loud and clear is the middle-class, who can now buy small cars and two wheelers for a lesser price. He has left the corporate tax structure untouched. It is definitely the best one by the humble PC so far.

For the first time in the history, Agriculture Sector has been given more importance in the Union Bodget 2008. I really welcome this. In toto Budget is pro Common man. New stratagies will certainly augment revenue despite there is cut in Excise duty and CST.

Thanks Finance minister for waiver of loans of small farmers. in past, the waiver of loans benefitted more to big farmer. the dying farmers are small framers

Rich are protected by their wealth. Poor are protected by Government's freebies. Only the middle class suffers but they are the majority voting population. Government should pay attention to this class.

Mr. Finance Minister has to do the difficult job of boosting the economic reforms and at the same time to give this '08 budget a human face. With the general election for the 12th loksabha on the cards he cannot bypass the political comitments also.Thus, this budget should be a "perfect blend" of the two ever conflicting elements: economic obligation and political compulsion.

Stock Exchange is the stosymbol of the free market economy. Here the bull and the bear does the talking for the open market and participate in the uncertain roller costar ride of buying and selling and investing in company derivatives known as shares. You can call it a gamble or you can speak the expert words and address it as place of actuarial science. Look at it at whatever way you can but stock market is now the place to make some quick

The Railway Budget 2008-09 does not seem to have anything new in store. It is expected to be a repetition of the previous few railway budgets, with very slight modifications if any. If the recent announcement by the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is to be believed, the budget will be a favourable one for the common man. This, in clear terms, suggests that there won't be any increases in the ticket fare. Another important aspect that needs to be kept under watch is the announcement made with regard to the railway employees, especially those in the fourth grade. There have been demands from them for the availability of pension opportunities and authorisation. This budget, being the last budget of Lalu Prasad's present tenure as Railway Minister, is least expected to overlook this demand. And it becomes a little more certain with the expected early general elections. A progress report showing profits for the Indian Railways is also certain to be on the card. If this railway budget does not witness any hike in the passenger fare, it would be for the first time in the history of Indian Railway that a Railway Minister did not impose any hike on the passengers’ pockets and still yield benefits and profits for the authority.

Year after year ,we shall all think about poor atthe time of budget exercise. Why cant we ensure that the money meant forthem actually reaches them? If the system of governance has to be changed, so be it.

The governments offer many different types of subsidies (or financial assistance) to encourage purchase of a good. Although there is a wide spread criticism that subsidies raise the government expenditure, there are some upsides of it as well. The government can use infrastructure subsidies to benefit a large number of potential users. Similarly, for the greater common good of the nation, auto fuel and kerosene are also subsidized. The same is true in case of farm subsidies. Many argue that without this government support, the weaker lot of farmers may not compete with the cheap imports by the government. Though economists generally view that subsidies create inefficiencies, but from a boarder point of view it is seen in number of cases that subsidies could be the most appropriate solution