Ahead of the annual budget presented in the parliament on Monday by Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman there was a rare unanimity among most stakeholders that it’s going to be the toughest so far by the Modi regime. It was really so as the task of pulling out the economy, bruised badly by Covid pandemic needed a herculean effort and it was widely agreed also that there was only one solution left-spending more. That has been tried with a noticeable thrust on infrastructure across key sectors and again, thanks to the pandemic, the healthcare sector which has been bereft of patronage it deserved almost routinely year after year has been showered with funds. Even if thanking the FM for the overall magnanimity, it’s understandable that Covid has been the biggest influencing factor. There will be deep differences over many features in the budget, as it happens in all annual budgets, but clearly it must be agreed upon that it’s born out of sheer compulsions.
Focusing on Health and Wellbeing, Physical & Financial Capital and Infrastructure, Inclusive Development for Aspirational India, Reinvigorating Human Capital, Innovation and R&D and Minimum Government and Maximum Governance and terming them as the six pillars for reviving the faltering economy, the budget has tried to be an all-inclusive one. Capital expenditure which will be utilized for infra-related projects has seen an increase of 34 % to Rs 5.54 lakh crore and the healthcare sector will receive Rs  2.2 lakh crore in 2021-22 fiscal, 137% more than previous year and a marked improvement over the less than 2% of GDP that the country traditionally spends. But the catch is that this amount is inclusive of Rs 35,000 crore allocated for Covid-19 vaccines and only the remaining part will be earmarked for real-time infra development of sick healthcare centres known variously as PHCs, CHCs and others. Cumulatively, the increased spending will cause a fiscal pressure to the tune of 9.5 % of GDP, sharply higher than 3.5 % of GDP that was projected in last Budget Estimates. To win the confidence of the farming community that has been lost after the farm laws tussle, agriculture credit has been increased to Rs 16.5 lakh crore along with the assurance that the procurement of produce by the government under MSP will continue at a steady pace. While the introduction of Jal Jeevan Mission Urban, increased outlay for Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, extension of Ujjwala scheme, way forward for implementing NEP with focus on enhancing skill development and basic literacy are the key mass-welfare-centric moves, the idea of disinvest two more Public Sector Banks (not named yet) and a hitherto government-owned general insurance company will give birth to the perception that the current government is determined to end the era of public sector entities. It will be hard to counter the opposition’s allegation that the current regime is acting as ‘agents of crony capitalists’. It’s regrettable also that the hospitality sector which was rattled by the pandemic has been denied an immediate budgetary support and allocation for Tourism Ministry of tourism has actually been slashed from Rs 2,500 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 2026.77 crore in 2021-21 FY. This is certainly not a good news for Arunachal Pradesh or the NE where tourism is a major revenue earner. Expectedly, considerable infra-oriented allocation for the poll-bound states including Assam has been made. An additional Rs.34,000 crores for 1,300+ km of National Highways works will be undertaken in Assam which is yet another instance of populism-driven compulsion.
Even if it’s a budget intended to ‘pacify’ most stakeholders, the character of ‘made out of compulsion’ rather than true generosity can hardly be concealed. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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