Do it yourself

Interim Union Budget FY20 - Election speech to wrong audience The interim Union Finance Minister of India presented an interim Union Budget for FY20 today in the parliament. Breaking the convention, the acting finance minister decided to launch couple of major schemes having material fiscal implications for the prospective governments. He also announced some changes in income tax rates arguing that these are urgent and cannot wait for four months! The acting finance minister took the opportunity to make an emphatic election speech, and virtually presented the party's manifesto for forthcoming general election. The focus of the speech was clearly to lure voters from farming, urban poor and middle class groups, but was presented to wrong audience. Key Budget announcements Beta version of Universal Basic Income The minister announced annual grant of Rs6000 to all farmers owning less than 2 hectare land in the country. Under the “Pra...

Some food for thought "If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." —Sun Tzu (Chinese Philosopher, Ancient Times) Word for the day Divertissement (n) A diversion or entertainment.   First thought this morning Sun Tzu, a Chinese philosopher and military strategist during Zhou dynasty, is credited with one of the best treatise on war strategies, titled The Art of War. A casual stroll through social media timelines is sufficient to realize that on both the side of the border millions of war strategists have mushroomed. In fact not only in the subcontinents, the people sitting in faraway lands like USA, UK, Canada, Australia etc, are also kind enough to offer free expert advice to the people and forces on both the sides of the LoC. Besides, the strategists, we have an army of cheerleaders and supporters. They are tirelessly cheering every threat, claim and action of th...