It's budget time again.
Fuel prices are set to go up. Grrr...ok, we know it is inevitable. All the newspapers and news channels worth their salt are abuzz with the recent Budget. Extensive analysis, sectorwise impact analysis of who will benefit and who will crib...the usual stuff. It looks like yet again, our FM has delivered a neatly balanced budget.
But, this post is not about nuances of the budget.
This time around, the guys at Times of India have done an amazing job of presenting the budget. There were lot of tidbits, interesting stories, images from all over the world, lot of images, comparison with economies of the world and even cases filed by people demanding exemption from paying taxes. It was a pleasure to read their coverage. Great job!
The part I liked most was the way they compared Indian economy to an elephant. The front page story reads:
The elephant has been synonymous with India from time immemorial, through history, mythology and belief. For decades, the Indian economy, too, came to be likened to an elephant, but in a pejorative, lumbering sense. Today, as the balance of global power shifts to the East, and India is regarded with awe for weathering the financial storm better than most, the elephant analogy is back – but with the positive attributes of size, stability, solidity and strength. With our economy projected to become the second largest in the world, after China and ahead of even the US, there’s a growing sense that we’re riding a quiet but powerful giant, one that needs to be taken care of if we want it to travel far and carry over a billion people on its back. Just as the elephant-god is worshipped by millions as remover of obstacles and bearer of good fortune, our Budgets are awaited with a prayer that they will lead us to a better tomorrow. Will this Budget make a difference to our lives, will it help the elephant dance?
Shankar Raghuraman | TIMES NEWS NETWORK
To support this theme, the paper had different images of elephants in different settings with appropriate captions.
All said and done, it's time to start working harder.
You know, we have to earn more to pay to the taxman.
