The Union Budget of the newly elected alliance government presented its first budget. Smt Nirmala Sitharaman as the Finance Minister of India presented her 7th budget, and a new record was made too. Considering a lot of promises were made to the people of India and lots of challenges they face – unemployment, price rise, stagnant income one would have hoped that BJP would, after its underperformance in the general election have learnt some lessons and course correct. However it was disappointing to see the same mistake of ignoring the Jann ki Baat, Madam Minister also like the Prime Minister delivered her Mann ki Baat speech.
This was to be the Union Budget but now can easily be titled PradhanMantri Sarkar Bachao Yojana announcement where huge financial packages have been earmarked for states that are run by their alliance partners and whose crucial support they need for their government to run uninterrupted- JDU in Bihar and TDP in Andhra Pradesh. While a package worth 59000 crores was announced for Bihar, it was 15000 crores for Andhra Pradesh.
However, their demand for special status has so far not been addressed. Making specific politically motivated state budget allocations over other states' interests sets a wrong precedent for future governments to follow. These funds aren’t addressing the requirements but rather addressing their political commitments. Alliance-run Maharashtra, a state that pays the highest taxes to the centre got no specific allocation from the PMSBY (PradhanMantri Sarkar Bachao Yojna) besides many opposition-run states.
It is a shame that the centre has blatantly disregarded the principle of equality but chosen to discriminate between states. Maharashtra seeks new airports, a GIFT city like dedicated business /smart city, highways and roads but all of this was ignored. The real BJP hate for Maharashtra stands exposed yet again.The opposition-led state has now made their displeasure over this discrimination obvious by choosing to boycott an upcoming NITI Ayog meeting to be chaired by the Prime Minister.In the budget, the Finance Minister introduced an apprenticeship program for youth between 20-30 years of age and committed 1 crore internship programmes for youth in the top 500 companies of India. That would mean every company will have to absorb 20000 interns at Rs 5000/pm stipend earmarked from their CSR. This also means that graduates/postgraduates who are part of the record 9.2% unemployment rate and looking for meaningful employment will have to be content with this program, what it doesn’t address is creating jobs or entrepreneurial opportunities for the highly skilled youth.
This is the corporate Agniveer programme not meant to address the elephant in the room which is unemployment but rather mock the plight of the youth.
Similarly, FinMin spoke of women-led development but fell short of offering anything that would help address the gender pay gap, bring them more jobs, incentivise savings through tax breaks or ease their burden of inflation in running family budgets. SAMBAL is an umbrella scheme that includes Beti Bacaho Beti Padhao, One Stop Centre, Nari Adalat, Mahila Police Volunteer, Women's Helpline etc. In 2020-21, when these schemes were separate, the BE for just four of those included under SAMBAL was ?640 crores, which is more than what has been allocated in the BE for 24-25 (?629 crores).
The Finance Minister and the entire government have been patting themselves on the back for maintaining fiscal prudence and keeping fiscal deficit under check but it is a classic case of operation successful but patient dead with Aam Janta not having enough savings, enough money to invest and consumption growth amongst its weakest ever.
The fact that private final consumption growth was just 4% in2023-24 against the overall GDP growth rate of more than 8% shows this clearly.The Government has once again managed to turn a deaf ear to the plight of farmers. If shutting down internet services and using tear gas shells to stop the farmers from protesting was not enough, the Union Budget has no mention of a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for farmers or any support for farm loans through waivers or lower interest rates. With billionaires continuing to have thousands of crore weddings and stamped-like situations occurring over jobs by unemployed youth, the Union Budget has missed out on addressing wealth inequality at large. While packages for youth employment have been introduced, the Budget does not address reducing the gap between the poorest and the richest sections of the population. Despite the economic survey pointing out the disparity in income with the top 10% accounting for one-third of the income, measures to uplift farmers, and labourers or increase wealth taxes are absent. The Finance Minister’s announcement of the reduction of tax on long-term capital gains (LTCG) is a bane in disguise. While seemingly, the tax on LTCG has reduced from 20% to 12.5%, the indexation benefits have been eliminated.
This means that profits on sales of property, gold and other unlisted assets will not be adjusted to inflation and a higher amount would be taxable, thus effectively increasing the tax burden on investors, and making investments in property, gold and shares unprofitable. The PradhanMantri Sarkar Bachao Yojana caters to the BJP’s essential allies.
The needs of the public, the opposition, and most states have been ignored. While ignoring the concerns of 90% of the nation is not new for this Government, it is disappointing to see it continue after the BJP’s performance in the General Elections. One can, however, be hopeful that the increased representation and enthusiasm of the opposition members in Parliament can lead to fruitful deliberations and additions to the Union Budget this session.
(Thbe writer is Rajya Sabha MP, Shiv Sena -Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, views are personal)
