DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 THE MACRO: Govt gives fiscal deficit target a miss | TAXATION: Salaried class and pensioners can save more REAL ESTATE: Incentive for purchase of second house | SOCIAL WELFARE: Unorganised sector: Rs 3,000 pension FULL COVERAGE PAGE 8-16 Directed Benefit Transfer Half of households are target: small farmers, middle class, urban poor; PM calls it trailer NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 WITH THE Lok Sabha elections justacoupleof monthsaway,the NDA government’s last Budget, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a “trailer” of what will take India “towards prosperity”, targeted two critical voter segments: an estimated 12 crore farmer families and 3 crore middle-classtaxpayers.Ithanded them more money that can spur consumption-led growth. To address the growing disquiet over jobs, Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in his debut Budget, announced a string of incentives not just for builders, but also home buyers, to boost demand in a sector that couldbeaforcemultiplierforthe economy. In the Interim Budget 20192020, Goyal set aside Rs 75,000 crore towards the Pradhan Mantri - Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), under which farmers holding upto 2 hectares will get Rs 6,000 as assured income support every year. “Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this,” Goyal said in his BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 100-plus minute speech that was unusually long for an interim Budget. The income support will be spread over three instalments and the first one will be handed out by March 31, well before the Lok Sabha elections. For the middle class, the Finance Minister offered full tax rebate up to a taxable income of Rs 5 lakh, potentially raising disposable income by Rs 10,000 a year. “Even persons having gross incomeuptoRs6.5lakhmaynot be required to pay any income CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rs 2000 won’t pay for fertilisers for 1 acre of wheat or fill a tractor’s tank NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 WORK OUT the basic arithmetic of a farm’s expense — fertiliser, machinery, fuel, seeds — and an annualRs6000-payout,anaverageof Rs16.40aday,doesn’tadd up to much. In fact, a Rs-2,000 payout to about12crorefarmersbeforethe ensuing Lok Sabha polls — that’s what the government’s much-awaited “farm package”, unveiled in the Interim Budget for 2019-20 on Friday, would practically amount to. Under the Pradhan Mantri — KisanSammanNidhi(PM-Kisan) scheme,allfarmerscultivatingup to two hectares (5 acres) will get directincomesupportofRs6,000 annually, payable in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each. As per the 2015-16 Agricultural Census, out of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 0.1% fiscal slip: In handout year, Govt keeps fist tight SHAJI VIKRAMAN & HARISH DAMODARAN NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 WEEKSBEFOREthepresentation of the Budget for 2015-16, Union FinanceMinisterArunJaitleyand top officials sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s views on allowing extra government spending that would have entailed an overshooting of fiscal deficit targets. This came even as RAVISH TIWARI & LIZ MATHEW BY UNNY Rs 6000 farmer payout: won’t cost much but won’t mean much either HARISH DAMODARAN Budget initiatives will join 10% EWS quota, Ayodhya on party list of issues the Finance Ministry’s own midyear economic review tabled in ParliamentonDecember19,2014 had made a case for “reviving public investment” and a review of the government’s mediumterm fiscal policy to enable such additional expenditures. “Aap nirnay kijiye (you may takethecall)”iswhatJaitleysupposedly told the Prime Minister, according to an official who was present at that meeting. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE 2 IAF PILOTS KILLED IN MIRAGE 2000 CRASH, PAGE 19 FOR NEW CBI CHIEF, PANEL SHORTLISTS NAMES, PAGE 18 Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal at Parliament House on Friday. Praveen Khanna and Rajasthan last December. While the full tax rebate for individual annual income up to Rs 5 lakh is being seen as an attempt to woo the middle class aheadof theLokSabhaelections, the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), offering flat cash transfer of Rs 6,000 in three equal instalments every year, seeks to addressalingeringissuethatthe party thought had been overplayed by the Opposition. “TheBudgetannouncements E WITH THE Interim Budget proposals focusing on an estimated 12 crore small farmers, three crore middle class taxpayers, and about 10 crore workers in the unorganised sector, smiles returned to the faces of BJP MPs who had looked increasingly downcast after the party’s defeat in the Hindi heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh EXPLAINED ANIL SASI & P VAIDYANATHAN IYER After tri-state loss, BJP gets new talking points for election campaign ● CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NO TAX FOR TAXABLE INCOME BELOW RS 5 LAKH Plan some, pay 0 tax on Rs 10 lakh annual income SANDEEP SINGH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 THEGOVERNMENT’Sannouncement of zero tax for all individuals — salaried, self-employed, pensioners, small business and traders — who have a taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh will incentiviseindividualswithgross income of even around Rs 10 lakh to visit their HR and chartered accountants to make the best use of the deductions available. Goal: to bring taxable income under Rs 5 lakh. While it does not benefit thosewithtaxableincomeabove Rs5lakh,FinanceMinisterPiyush Goyal,speakingtothemedia,did suggest that there may be more tax relief in the offing when the full Budget is presented in July. “I had the constraint of this being an interim Budget. However,thereweremanythings which could not have waited for the final Budget, particularly relief for the small taxpayer whichIhavepassedon.Therestis for the then Finance Minister to decide in July 2019,” Goyal said. While taxpayers can claim deductions of up to Rs 1.5 lakh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In ED case, Vadra seeks anticipatory bail in court RCom of Anil Ambani files for insolvency PRITAM PAL SINGH ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU FEARING ARREST in an alleged money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding “ownership of undisclosed assets abroad”, Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, approached a Delhi court Friday, seeking anticipatory bail. His application is likely to be heard Saturday. On December 7, the ED conducted searches in Delhi and Bengaluru and one of the premises searched, according to Vadra’s lawyer Suman Khaitan, was Vadra’s office in Sukhdev Vihar, New Delhi. In a statement a day later, the RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS, controlled by the Anil Ambani group, Friday decided to opt for insolvency proceedings through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after failing to sell assets to pay up debt to the tune of around Rs 45,000 crore. “RCom board of directors decidesuponimplementationof debt resolution plans through NCLT framework,” the company said in a statement. The board of directors of RCom on Friday reviewed the progress of the company’sdebtresolutionplans since the invocation of strategic debt resolution on June 2, 2017. RCom’s plan to sell spectrum NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 1 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 1 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2