25.02.2008

• Is our country’s also facing a slowdown?
• Though it is too early to sing the sad song, what is signalling a slowdown in our country is the fact that for the first time in three years, the number of dividend paying companies has come down slightly.
• Just 99 companies had announced their dividend payment intentions. Though this is not a huge difference from the figures for the last two years (108 and 104 respectively), this does perhaps sends a caution singal.
• Want to know about budget process?
• You can’t get a better picture than the one presented in today’s ET. Here is the link. I strongly advise all of you to read it once thoroughly.
• Because I assume that you have been following my blog for the last couple of years, I will note only some salient points for our notes and avoid what I consider not important or an unnecessary repeat:
• The President of India is constitutionally obliged to have the Annual Financial Statement (it is not called budget at all in our constitution!!) for the ensuing year laid on the table of the House under Article 112. But, according to Article 77(3) it is the Finance Minister who is made responsible for preparing this statement and pilot it through Parliament.
• The budget exercise kicks off in September every year with the issue of a budget circular to all Union Ministries, all states and Union Territories, autonomous bodies and the defence forces for preparing revised estimates for the current year and the budget estimate for the next financial year.
• About budget presentation day: The budget is presented to Parliament on a date fixed by the President. By convention, since 1999, it is being presented at 11.00 AM on the last working day of February.
• About discussion on the budget: No discussion follows immediately after the presentation of the budget. A few days later the Lok Sabha discusses the budget as a whole and not the details. Then the Finance Minister replies to this discussion.
• A ‘vote on account’ for the next two months of the ensuing financial year is obtained from Parliament. The House is adjourned for a fixed period. During this period, the Demands for Grants of various ministries/departments including Railways are considered by relevant standing committees.
• Standing committee reports are presented to the House. The House is supposed to discuss each of the Demands for Grants and then pass them. But more often than not, these are all clubbed and put together at one time and passed – the guillotine.
• In the Rajya Sabha there is only a general discussion on the budget. It does not vote on the Demands for Grants.
• After the Demands for Grants are passed, the Appropriation bill is introduced and passed. It gives authority to the government to incur expenditure from and out of the CFI (Consolidated Fund of India).
• What follows Appropriation Bill is the consideration of passing the Finance Bill containing tax proposals. Certain provisions of this bill relating to levy and collection of fresh duties come into effect immediately on the day the Bill is introduced by virtue of a declaration under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act. Indirect tax proposals come into force as soon as they are announced; but direct tax proposals await the approval of Parliament. Parliament has to pass the finance bill in 75 days.
• The origin of the word budget comes from the French word ‘Bougette’ meaning a leather bag or wallet. The first use of the term budget dates back to 1733 when the British PM and Chancellor of the Exchequer was Mr. Walpole.
• Independent India’s first budget was introduced by RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947. This was an interim budget because the earlier assembly which passed the budget ceased to exist after the country was divided.
• The printing of the budget documents is very secretive. A printing press located in the North Block prints them. All the people associated with the preparation and printing are quarantined and are monitored by IB sleuths. Even the Cabinet gets to see budget summary only 10 minutes before Parliament assembles for the budget presentation.
• Language lessons
• Recuse: to disqualify oneself from sitting in judgement over a matter to avoid conflict of interest.
• Doddering: to tremble or shake from weakness or age; to progress feebly and unsteadily
• Virgin Atlantic is the first airline to try flying planes using biofuel
• In a test flight from UK to Netherlands, it has run a plane fuelled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks.
• The European Commission said GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from aviation account for about 3% of the total in European Union and have increased by 87% since 1990 as air travel cheapened.
• Recent studies are confirming that biofuels cause more GHG emissions than conventional fuels, if the fuel emissions costs of producing these ‘green fuels’ are considered.
• To support biofuel development, a large amount of natural land is being converted to cropland globally. The destruction of natural ecosystems releases GHG gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and ploughed, and deprives the planet of natural sponges that absorb carbon emissions.
• Cropland absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces.