The biggest non event of the year, the union budget, was presented yesterday. Apart from some tinkering with direct tax rates there was nothing much of interest apart from a reduction of customs duty from 30% to 10% on cranberry products. Cranberry is not grown in India and its sauce is said to be essential for Thanksgiving day in the US and Canada. How this will reduce food inflation running at 12% is impossible to tell. The Finance Bill is indecipherable. Fish products take up the maximum number of columns. I am not sure if anyone in India eats Ctenpharyngodon or Hypophthalmichthys but they are taxed at 30%. Meanwhile ginger is taxed at 30%, bananas at 20%, cardamom at 62.5%, seeds of bajra, jawar and ragi, which are staple cereals, are taxed at 70%. Beet sugar and cane jaggery are taxed at 100%. We had heard earlier that the railways are in financial trouble so tax on air tickets have been increased by Rs 50 for domestic and Rs 250 for international travel. We are reminded that criminal politicians and thieving civil servants are allowed to travel free in first class with relatives, servants, friends and, may be even, mistresses. To boost the stock markets foreign investors will now be allowed to invest in domestic mutual funds. Predictably the Sensex has jumped by 623.10 points that is over 3% today. This is dangerous as FIIs, because of their huge assets, already control the markets and will now control the mutual fund industry leaving retail investors at their mercy. Whether this is to help criminals bring their black money from broad without paying taxes is not known. To think that taxpayer money is paying for this twaddle!