By G Manjusainath, DH News Service, Bangalore:
The Karnataka Lake Development Authority (LDA) has been projected as a villain for the poor state of the lakes across Karnataka...

Gautam Chakraborty, head of the previous board
Malda, July 17: Development work by the zilla parishad here has come to a halt over the past five months and is likely to be delayed for another two, as the previous Congress-led board could not pass the budget earlier this year.

Free power to irrigation pumpsets up to 10 HP from August 1, loans at three per cent interest to farmers, weavers and fishermen, enhanced retirement for government servants and a substantial allocation for development of infrastructure were the highlights of the revised State budget presented by Chief Minister Yeddyurappa on Thursday.

The BJP government in Karnataka today announced free power to irrigation pumpsets (IP) up to 10 HP from August 1 apart from loans at three per cent interest to farmers, weavers and fishermen, to fulfill its pre-election promise.

Promising massive infrastructure building, Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury presented a budget of Rs 5,248.76 crore with a deficit of Rs 76.74 crore for the 2008-2009 financial year in the Assembly here today. The budget has proposed substantial increase in capital expenditure as the outlay for infrastructure building has been pegged at Rs 1,763 crore.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest made the budgetary provisions for North-east States to the tune of Rs. 4647 crore during the last three years. The year wise allocations were Rs. 1388.19 crore, Rs. 1520.14 crore and Rs. 1539.00 crore for the tears 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively. The different Central Schemes were Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Biosphere Reserve, Conservation and Management of Mangroves, Coral Reefs and Wetlands, Project Elephant, Project Tiger, National Afforestation Programme, and Gregarious Flowering Muli Bamboo.

It was perhaps a first for Palaniappan Chidambaram. He had a most unusual effect on Lok Sabha MPs last week. Minutes after he delivered his Budget speech, MPs across party lines were on the phone, cancelling weekend parties and making arrangements to head home.

Shorn of any big idea, Budget 2007 is an essay that tries to manage the exigencies of politics and the public outcry on inflation even as it attempts to balance the need for growth. It satisfies neither political wants nor economic needs.