Good or bad?

Officials in the finance ministry say they are confused. That's because they're getting conflicting signals from industry on the Budget proposals. They're receiving congratulatory letters for some proposals only to be criticised on the same proposals in public meetings. For instance, when somebody said the government should have given one five-year extension for the power sector tax holiday instead of extending it several times by one year, Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose said laconically: "On power, someone called me up to say 'thanks'. We didn't know we got it totally wrong." Finance Minister P Chidambaram also showed an appreciative letter from agricultural economist M S Swaminathan when some members of Parliament criticised his proposals on agriculture.