This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Mint’s consulting editor Puja Mehra.

On the union budget, Puja says it is a reaction to the election results. “The amount of tax we collect is so little…The interest payment to be paid on past borrowing is Rs 11.6 lakh crore. The income tax that they have collected is Rs 11.8 lakh crore. So everything that you’re going to collect as income tax is just going to pay for the past borrowings.” 

Manisha says the removal of indexation benefits on immovable assets has the potential to correct the real estate market. “The idea is to disincentivise buying multiple houses for the sake of investment.” Pooja points out that the same government had earlier introduced tax exemptions to encourage second-house investments.

The panel also discusses urban planning in India and its limitations, with roads not able to withstand monsoons, electrocution deaths in cities, and the US presidential election.

This and more. Tune in!