To find out what the Union Budget has in store for science and the environment, Down To Earth spoke to environmentalists and representatives of the scientific and business communities. Their views

"The geographical location of the Northeast is very fragile. If many polluting industries start spurting all over the region, with no treatment plants and sewage all over the place, there will be

"The formation of the National Movement of Watershed Development, about which many people were talking outside the government, has been fulfilled. At this point, it is not important how much money

"The diesel price has not been hiked as such. A few months earlier, diesel price was reduced by Re 1. So now we are back at the same thing, only now it is now in the form of cess. The money is

"This Budget is software friendly. The government has reinforced its confidence in the software industry and we are confident of achieving our software export target of Rs 17,500 crore in

"The decision to form the National Biodiversity Board is welcome. It has long been a demand for the protection of medicinal plants in the country. The government has also announced the setting up

THE NORTHEAST A 10-year tax holiday for all industries set up in Growth Centres, Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporations, and for other specified industries in the

Pages