Opinion Budget freebies for farmers clearly have elections in mind

Budget 2018: There is no change in the economic paradigm of this government. It continues to cater to corporate and big business interests. The primary source of revenue generation in this Budget remains the selling off of public sector undertakings.

Budget, Union budget 2018-19, election manifesto, general elections 2019, Lok Sabha elections, India express column

Of the allocated new budget, Rs 4,006.88 crore comes under revenue head and Rs 505.03 crore as capital. (In picture: Arun Jaitley outside Parliament in New Delhi)

D. Raja

February 1, 2018 05:40 PM IST First published on: Feb 1, 2018 at 05:25 PM IST

Budget freebies for farmers clearly have elections in mind

Arun Jaitley presented Union Budget 2018 in the Parliament on Thursday (Source: Express Photo)

The Modi government’s last full Budget doesn’t give us hope. It is certainly not a development-oriented Budget, as the government claims. In fact, the BJP seems very desperate in its attempt to hoodwink certain sections of people, like farmers, perhaps because of its recent experience with Gujarat farmers who did not vote for it in the elections. This Budget has been presented clearly keeping elections in mind.

There is no change in the economic paradigm of this government. It continues to cater to corporate and big business interests. The primary source of revenue generation in this Budget remains the selling off of public sector undertakings. The finance minister has announced not only that Air India will be sold, but also announced the selling of 24 PSUs. This will be disastrous for India.

We believe that opening up the defence sector for FDI is not good for the country. In matters of security, the government should be self-reliant, not depend on foreign companies. On the concessions that the Budget gives to the farm sector, I highly doubt that poor and marginal farmers will benefit. It is certain that rich and corporate farmers will hijack the benefits announced.

The greatest obvious lack in this Budget is that schemes seem to have been announced, but there is no mechanism for their implementation. For example, how is the health insurance scheme expected to reach the people? Certainly, it will be left to private companies to take advantage of this. Even in the education sector, the Finance minister’s declaration of “Blackboard to Digital Board” remains a mirage, as we know that in thousands of schools across the country there are no classrooms, no toilets, and teaching continues to take place under a tree.

Also, there doesn’t seem to be any emphasis on school education. The finance minister only kept talking about institutes of higher education, like IITs.

(As told to Jyoti Malhotra)

# Budget 2018