Embellishing the BJP’s political capital
The most significant talking point of the general budget was the marked increase in the income tax rebate limit for the salaried middle class. Coming as it did weeks before elections to three states in the Northeast and a year before the Lok Sabha polls, the underlying message was that of the government putting more money in the pockets of the aam aadmi. Whether or not it would at least compensate for the high inflation that raised the cost of living and the humongous jump in bank loan rates ever since the Ukraine war last year is a different matter. By reducing the income tax slabs and increasing the exemption limit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought to nudge people towards the new tax regime while announcing it will be the default system from now on.
Keeping capital expenditure turbocharged to maintain India’s growth story while pushing for inclusive growth was the central theme of the budget. Billed as the first budget for the Amrit Kaal, it lays out the development vision for the 25 years till the centenary of India’s Independence. While no freebies were announced, schemes to nurture the BJP’s political capital peppered the speech. Since the flagship programme of affordable housing for the poor has good recall value while harvesting votes, a handsome hike in allocation for the scheme was a given. Last year, the Centre had warned of penalties against states that had failed to meet the project’s targets. Karnataka was the only state that got mentioned regarding an irrigation project, perhaps because Assembly elections are due in the state in just a few months.
Similarly, a scheme to saturate families and habitations of particularly vulnerable tribal groups with basic facilities such as safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities had elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland written all over it. Schemes to enhance the economic empowerment of women by scaling up self-help groups and a stipend programme to support 47 lakh youth were some of the other ticked checkboxes. A revamped credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs that will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore and reduce the cost of credit by about 1% was a welcome balm for the struggling sector.
Curiously, the word ‘unemployment’ was missing in the speech though Sitharaman referred to the ‘poor’ twice. Also, the finance minister did not seem to find any couplet from a person of note, such as a Tamil savant or poet, fit for the occasion. She instead quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is at the Centre of the party’s universe, more than once to embellish her address.