HYDERABAD: In election time, nothing sells with the people who turn up to vote — mostly the poor and the middle class — as actions against the rich. The Union Budget did precisely that. It heralded the arrival of a new messiah of the poor: Narendra Damodardas Modi. The Budget, though presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley, has firmed up the credentials of his boss Modi as being pro-poor and pro-farmer. The rural, agriculture and allied sectors got the lion’s share of the budget at Rs 1,87,223 crore. While it could be aimed at the huge farm-dependent population in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the allocation of these funds makes this budget different from others. Instead of focusing on doling out money, Mr Jaitley focused on creating a conducive ecosystem for faster agriculture growth.
The target of building 10 lakh farm ponds under MGNREGA would increase the depleting water table, which could also attract more of rainfall. Similarly, the Swayam scheme focuses on making youths from the poor and middle classes employable. Though this is quite similar to what the previous governments have done using television and distance education modules, the use of the IT to reach out the people and the number of courses offered in the scheme makes it different. In a time, the focus was not on the Railways as it got merged with the General Budget. And for a change, the railways would focus on improving passenger safety than on introducing new trains.
On the tax front, the minister let people save over Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000 a year by slashing the first slab to five per cent from the existing 10 per cent. However, similar to “robbing Robert to pay Paul” idiom, the budget leaves some pain for people having an annual income of Rs 50 lakh and above as a surcharge has been imposed on them, while those who own more than one house saw restrictions on tax concessions. Small enterprises got a big relief as the tax rate was cut from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. While many analysts expected a debt-funded big expansionary budget in the wake of demonetisation, the finance minister preferred to create systems for facilitating economic transformation of India in the years to come. It is therefore a work-in-progress budget. And Mr Jaitley has once again disappointed those looking forward for a big-bang Budget.
BIG TAKEAWAYS
National testing agency
It aims to bring professionalism and competence in the field of conducting tests for higher educational institutions.
Health card for senior citizens
Embedding health data of senior citizens in Aadhaar-based smart cards will let the government focus on preventive care.
Big tax sops for small firms
Slashing income-tax rate for SMEs with a turnover of Rs 50 crore to 25 per cent from 30 per cent will save huge money for India’s largest job creating sector.
Boost to affordable housing
Granting infrastructure status to the affordable housing may give a big boost to affordable housing sector and result in a positive ripple-effect on the economy.
Fipb phased out
A 20-year-old bureaucratic body empowered to clear foreign direct investments will be phased out as most sectors have put under automatic clearance regime.
Skill development
A new IT platform called Swayam would be launched to encourage science education. It will offer 1,500 courses via online and DTH modes.
