Websites to provide live Budget coverage

By Anand Parthasarathy

KOCHI, FEB. 25. The Internet is poised to provide an useful alternative to the radio and TV for those keen on getting details of the Railway and Union Budgets as soon as they are placed in Parliament.

The Finance Ministry has joined hands with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to create a special site (indiabudget.nic.in) which will begin ``webcasting'' the video of the Finance Minister's Budget speech ``live'' on the morning of February 28. The site will also provide the full print text of the Union Budget thereafter.

``Bharat Online'' the portal site of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) which provides Internet access and telephone services in Mumbai and Delhi, has also created a site which will bring online, the proceedings of both the Railway Budget scheduled for tomorrow (February 26) and the Union Budget on Wednesday.( www.bol.net.in/budget2001). The site already carries a wishlist of various organisations like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM etc and a sectoral preview for 16 industries. If you are floored by the jargon of the Budget, a button leads you to a glossary, while another provides a handy Income Tax calculator.

The Budget section of the leading Indian portal, Rediff, ( rediff.com) has programmed sectoral and impact studies of the budget by ``watcher'' agencies, Crisil and Dun and Bradstreet. The proceedings on this site begins at 1030 a.m. on February 28.

Other websites with extensive Budget coverage include www.thenewspapertoday.com/budget/ and economictimes.com.

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