Innholdsfortegnelse for 17 February 2025 i India Today

Sentiment is a crucial element for the health of an economy. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given a massive boost to the sentiment and pockets of middle-class taxpayers with a bold step in her recent budget. Those earning an income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum will now not have to pay any tax at all; the earlier ceiling was Rs 7 lakh. That takes a good 10 million Indians entirely out of the incometax net, a full one-third of our taxpayer base of 32 million. Tax slabs were also substantially rationalised: the highest rates of 30 per cent now kick in only for incomes above Rs 24 lakh, compared to Rs 15 lakh earlier. The bonanza will likely cost the government Rs 1 lakh crore in revenues. This…

Budget 2025 has prioritised nuclear energy as a cornerstone of India’s energy transition, setting an ambitious target of 100 GW nuclear power capacity by 2047. For an “active partnership with the private sector towards this goal”, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act. She also announced the launch of the Nuclear Energy Mission with a Rs 20,000 crore allocation for research & development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The plan is to operationalise at least five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033. THE BENEFITS By targeting 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, the budget addresses two critical challenges: energy security and climate change. Nuclear power provides a stable, low-carbon energy source, which will help India retire its ageing…

Today, 43 per cent of the country’s population is dependent on agriculture—including animal husbandry, fisheries and horticulture. But the sector generates only 17 per cent of the country’s GDP, having ambled along at a CAGR of 3.3-3.5 per cent for the past 25 years, about half the pace of the overall GDP. To sustain this imbalance, the country has to spend around 2 per cent of its GDP as subsidies. Things being as they are, in hindsight, many policymakers believe it was perhaps a tad early to push farmers towards private capital—as conceived in the repealed 2020 farm laws—and that infrastructure has to be in place to allow farmers to sell produce wherever they want. In short, what is needed is a more focused approach. Top of the list are…

Budget 2025 introduced initiatives aimed at expanding infrastructure and integrating AI into education, but it failed to take the steps necessary to truly reform India’s higher education landscape. The overall allocation for higher education saw a modest five per cent increase, a figure that falls short of global benchmarks, especially given that India spends less than 1 per cent of its GDP on R&D. INCONSISTENT APPROACH The budget’s biggest shortfall lies in its half-hearted approach to research and innovation, where ambitious announcements are undermined by funding cuts. While the Rs 500 crore outlay for the three Centres of Excellence in AI for Education signals intent, it is overshadowed by a staggering 74 per cent slash in funding for the ‘World Class Institution’ scheme—its allocation plummeting from Rs 1,800 crore to…

Q HOW DO YOU RATE THE UNION BUDGET? CAN IT HELP ACCELERATE GDP GROWTH TO OVER 8 PER CENT? • DHARMAKIRTI JOSHI: The budget aims to strike a balance between investment and consumption. We expect GDP growth of 6.5 per cent next fiscal. If implemented effectively, the budgetary measures can enhance growth potential. First, the government should ensure that the committed capex is executed, minimising cost and time overruns. Second, prioritising ease of doing business and reducing regulatory hurdles are essential to invigorate the private corporate sector, which has greater financial flexibility for fixed investments. However, the wild card is global turbulence resulting from escalating tariff wars, which will require deft policy and diplomatic efforts to navigate. • ASHIMA GOYAL: I would give it 9/10. It can help accelerate growth,…

In 2002, Amit Ambalal, one of the pre-eminent figurative artists of the country, produced a gouache painting called ‘Jala-Krida’ (‘jala’ is water, ‘krida’ is play), where a lone swimmer is oblivious to the presence of an alligator sidling up to him in the water. The swimmer’s carefree state of mind is depicted through a burst of yellow oleanders around him. The painting has signature Ambalal traits: irony, humour, a certain expansive beauty and a fondness for animal metaphors. As part of his ongoing Delhi exhibition In the Garden of Sumeru (at Gallery Espace from January 23 to March 1), the veteran artist has produced another painting with the name ‘Jala-Krida’ (watercolour on paper, 12.5 x 16 inches), also an underwater scene, this time featuring an elephant alongside turtles and herons.…

When interior designerturned-filmmaker Rohan Kanawade decided he’d come out to his parents, he was anxious and expected a showdown. Instead, his father, a driver, and homemaker mother embraced him for who he was. “My semiliterate father said, ‘You know about yourself and that’s what’s important’,” recalls Kanawade. “They were so positive. I was like why do we only see tragic tales about us [LGBTQ] in films, why don’t we see this?” In his first feature Sabar Bonda, which is in Marathi and has just bagged the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, he doesn’t recreate the scene but channelises that sentiment with a mother who supports her son as his relatives corner him to get married. Kanawade’s film, whose title alludes to the cactus pear, echoes…

The Ezhavas in Kerala are an unhappy lot. The politically active Other Backward Class community makes up 23 per cent of the population, but say they are being marginalised in the state. Traditionally part of the Communist voter base, Ezhava loyalties are now divided after their social organisation, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) yogam, floated a political outfit, the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), in 2015 and tied their political fortunes to that of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. Having failed to make the expected gains, the Ezhava vote is now split across Kerala’s three political fronts—the Left, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the NDA. The widespread disaffection came to a head in late January when the BDJS passed a resolution to explore…

Following global trends in planning for conflicts as well as battlefield realities, Budget 2025 reinforced India’s commitment to modernisation, with a strong focus on Artificial Intelligence-driven warfare, cybersecurity and next-generation surveillance. Defence modernisation, therefore, has been allocated Rs 1.8 lakh crore. A significant portion of this—Rs 1.48 lakh crore—is directed towards AI-driven defence systems as well as acquiring advanced platforms. There are meaty portions allocated for R&D and infrastructure development—Rs 26,816 crore is for the DRDO and Rs 7,146 crore for the Border Roads Organisation. This ties in neatly with the Rs 1.12 lakh crore reserved for domestic procurement, ensuring that Indian defence manufacturers play a pivotal role in strengthening national security. The total allocation under defence is Rs 6.81 lakh crore—a 4.65 per cent increase over last year. The…

The Union ministry of science and technology, the country’s biggest civilian funder of basic science research, has got a big boost with an allocation of Rs 38,613 crore. That’s nearly three times the Rs 14,472 crore it received in the revised estimates for 2024-25. At Rs 20,000 crore, more than half of this corpus goes to the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to kickstart the “private sector-driven Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) initiative”. Announced for the first time in the July budget last year, this fund is eventually planned to have a massive Rs 1 lakh crore pool. The Research, Development and Innovation scheme will push private sector to explore sunrise sectors THE BENEFITS For a country that spends less than one per cent of its GDP on R&D,…

India is ramping up its export ecosystem with a multipronged strategy. An Export Promotion Mission with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore will drive efforts across the commerce, MSME and finance ministries, improving access to export credit, facilitating cross-border factoring support and helping MSMEs tackle non-tariff barriers. A digital platform, BharatTradeNet (BTN), will streamline trade documentation and financing, complementing the Unified Logistics Interface Platform. To enhance integration with global supply chains, key sectors will be identified for manufacturing support, with facilitation groups focusing on select products. And a high-level committee will review non-financial recommendations within a year. The budget also lowered customs duties on a few strategic inputs and relaxed certain regulations to boost export-oriented sectors such as leather, marine products and handicrafts. The Export Promotion Mission will help identify…

India stands at a critical juncture in its technological evolution. As the world races ahead in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and semiconductors, the government must take decisive steps to propel the country into the next era of digital leadership. Developing a strong AI ecosystem is a priority. AI’s potential spans industries, from healthcare and environmental sustainability to agriculture and e-governance. Central to this effort is the deployment of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), the powerhouses of AI computation. However, India remains in the early stages of AI infrastructure development. To bridge this gap, a public-private partnership model must be aggressively pursued to ensure that the country has access to cutting-edge processing power. India is currently working on multiple foundational AI models set for deployment within the next year. Yet, a…

India’s export growth remains sluggish. As of December 2024, the country’s total exports stood at $70.67 billion (Rs 6.15 lakh crore), only marginally higher than the same month in the previous year. To boost exports, India needs to focus on sunrise sectors such as electronics, machinery, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals while also supporting labour-intensive industries like textiles and leather to drive employment creation, industry experts suggest. Enhancing export competitiveness requires improving credit flow and reducing borrowing costs. Rising sea and air freight costs have already strained exporters. At the same time, global buyers are facing a liquidity crunch. “The payments cycle (period within which exporters would be paid by clients), which was typically 45-60 days, has now become 120-130 days,” says Ajay Sahai, director general, Federation of Indian Export Organisations.…

In its 93-year cricket history, there hasn’t been a facet of the game that India hasn’t ‘bested’ at some point or the other. The best batters, wicket-keepers, fielders, spinners, we’ve had all of them at some point in time. But there was one aberration—we never had the best fast bowler on the planet. This cricket season, that too has happened, thanks to Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah. For a country that couldn’t even lay claim to having a ‘fast’ bowler for much of its history until the arrival of Kapil Dev in the late 1970s, Bumrah’s accession to the throne pretty much qualifies as a landing-on-the-moon moment. And whilst Kapil’s greatness was never in doubt, the likes of Lillee, Holding, Imran and Marshall ensured that the best-of-his-generation tag eluded him. It’s not…

Jayasri Burman’s solo show The Whisper of Water, The Song of Stars is an ongoing show at Art Alive Gallery in New Delhi but its seeds were sown when she visited Puri as an eight-year-old. “My siblings and I played in the sand and collected shells and cowries. At home, I would wash them and deeply inhale their smell,” says the 64-year-old artist, who has used shells and cowries—either painted on canvas or real ones from her collection over the years—to celebrate oceans, fertility and natural beauty in her works. Memories of the artist’s childhood spent in Kolkata, her collection of shells and cowries, mythological stories about goddess Lakshmi and many other thoughts have led her to create this immersive journey that explores the cosmic connection of stars and water bodies, the harmony…

While Black Warrant, the Netflix series about a rookie jailer in Tihar, may have put the spotlight on Shashi Kapoor’s grandson Zahan Kapoor, who plays Sunil Gupta, the former jailer on whose book the series is based, equally arresting is Sidhant Gupta’s portrayal of the ‘Bikini Killer’ Charles Sobhraj, who was a famous Tihar inmate in the 1980s. “He is a cool, sexy character and they have really gotten it right,” says Gupta, who is an unabashed admirer of the show’s co-creator Vikramaditya Motwane, a perfectionist whose “every frame speaks volumes”. “His detailing is unmatched. I can spend a lifetime on his sets,” he adds. Gupta, who grew up in Jammu, savoured the sense of freedom that Delhi, where he was training for a commercial pilot’s licence, gave him. He…

Recognising the 57 million-strong micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector as the second growth engine after agriculture, the budget introduced measures to address the persistent credit gap in the sector. To encourage lenders and ease credit access, the credit guarantee for collateral-free loans has been doubled from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore for micro and small enterprises (MSEs). This is part of the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for the MSE scheme which has facilitated 10 million such guarantees to them. Additionally, export-led MSMEs will now get cover for term loans of up to Rs 20 crore. Further, 1 million micro-enterprises will receive credit cards with a Rs 5 lakh limit, and 500,000 first-time entrepreneurs from among women and the SC and ST communities will have access to…

Budget 2025 has addressed one of the most prevalent diseases that can cripple one financially—cancer. The exemption of 36 life-saving drugs from basic customs duty, along with a concessional 5 per cent duty on six additional medicines, will make critical treatments more affordable for patients suffering from cancer and rare diseases. The inclusion of 37 additional medicines and 13 new patient assistance programmes will further ease patients’ financial burden. The decision to establish daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals over the next three years marks a transformative step in making cancer care more accessible to all strata of society. The Heal in India initiative aims to develop medical tourism. This will boost investment and create jobs in the sector THE BENEFITS According to the Indian Council of Medical Research,…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often reiterated that the government has “no business to be in business”. However, the plans to divest stakes in public sector units (PSU) in favour of private players—who could run the companies more efficiently—seem to have not kept up with that intention, at least for now. Instead, the Centre appears to be pouring more money into these firms, some of which are ailing. Four years ago, in February 2021, when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union budget for 2021-22, there was a sense of optimism about disinvestment. For once, it seemed the government would sell off a few stateowned companies, even as it planned a mega merger and the offloading of assets. For FY22, the Centre had targeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from PSU…

India has a burgeoning workforce. At last count, it stood at 565 million, with 55 per cent engaged in manufacturing, construction and service sectors. The formal sector has seen significant growth, with net Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscriptions more than doubling from 6.1 million in FY19 to 13.1 million in FY24, states the Economic Survey. According to the NITI Aayog, even the number of gig and platform workers—who undertake temporary, flexible jobs, often facilitated by digital platforms—is expected to rise to 23.5 million by FY30. In fact, the labour force participation rate (LFPR), which is the percentage of working-age people engaged in or seeking employment, rose from 49.8 per cent in FY18 to 60.1 per cent in FY24, as per the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey. Yet, long-pending labour…

Cubism, pioneered by greats like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the early 20th century, challenged conventional perspectives through its exploration of abstraction and multiple perspectives. Initially, Cubist art was rejected by many for its confusing methodology. Eventually, it influenced the trajectory of artistic expression across the world, including India—evolving into a new visual language to represent reality. A new exhibition at DAG Delhi, Deconstructed Realms: India’s Tryst with Cubism, offers a window into this brief encounter between India and Cubism. “As a result of early encounters between European and Indian artistpatrons, western pedagogy changed art practices in India. This evolution steered the creation of new, dynamic forms of art such as the Company School, Early Bengal oil paintings and even the Kalighat Pats,” says Ashish Anand, CEO and managing…

Q. What’s the secret sauce to your success? I don’t think there is any secret where I am concerned. Just as we got recognition, we also have had several setbacks. The only thing that has made us reach where we are is by accepting that I will make mistakes, and each one has to be a learning not to be repeated again. Q. What have been the challenges of introducing Indian cuisine to the Italians and vice versa? Introducing Italian to the Indian palate was a lot harder than introducing Indian to the Italians. But it’s also about being at the right place at the right time. When I opened my first Italian restaurant in India, it was way before its time. When we opened Cittamani in Milan in 2017, it…