Has Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lived up to her statement of unveiling a 'never-before kind of budget?' Does the Budget 2021 provide a gateway to a post-Covid revival? Faced with a monumental challenge of steering the economy through recession navigating through an unprecedented pandemic that has battered finances.
Goa had reason to cheer with a package of Rs 300 crore for the year-long celebration of the State's 60th year of Liberation. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant immediate reaction that the money will be spent on various works related to infrastructure including giving a facelift to historic monuments related to the freedom struggle and resource development must be commended. However, contrary to what the CM advocates, there is nothing significant that could usher a positive change in the lives of the common man. The middle class has been left high and dry.
Sitharaman's budget shows a big trust in specific areas, and emphasis on health is visible. The focus on disinvestment is a big plus, and the increase in capital expenditure is a welcome move for the revival of the economy.
However, the devil is in the details, with several injustices and biases showing. The major infrastructure push is encouraging, but focusing on only poll-bound states of West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu, while ignoring deserving States like Bihar and UP shows a political leaning.
The Budget fails to do justice to the education sector which has been crippled under the Covid strain. The decision of going for 100 Sainik schools and 750 Eklavya model residential schools across the country may sound good, but no effort is made to revive online learning and crippled networks that have played havoc during the pandemic time, neither are there efforts to tackle a dip in school enrollments. The private sector school teachers which have been hit hard with some driven to the point of going unpaid find no relief too. Instead of streamlining and fortifying the existing school system, the Budget has only added to the existing number of schools.
Unemployment has been a major issue that India is facing for a long time, and despite the testing times at hand where the struggle is clearly on display, the Budget failed to bring substantial relief to the jobless with no direct measures in place to boost employment.
While the big corporate players have the wherewithal to tide over the current crisis, the nearly 6 crore small and medium-sized enterprises which are driven to bankruptcy and many on the verge of closure find no relief in the Finance Minister's big Budget. Also, at a time when public consumption and private investment have collapsed and exports not growing, the Budget showed no inclination to incentivise spending to boost consumption.
The FM basked in headline-making announcements, the core issues have gone unaddressed, especially the ones hit hard during the pandemic and the middle-class citizens have been left to fend for themselves amid risks of a spike in inflation. Also, much against the resentment of the farming community, the increase in cess on petrol and diesel and a decrease in allocation would only extend their miseries. All in all, while the government eyes its objective of a self-reliant India, the struggles of the ordinary citizens have been ignored.
