Omkar Dattatray
Finance minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman has presented new union budget in parliament on first February 2024 and it is the last budget of the NDA center government as the general elections are coming near and are round the corner. Sitharaman equaled the record of former Prime minister and finance minister Moorji Desai who has presented six budgets in succession .Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her sixth consecutive budget a government expenditure for first four months of head of the upcoming parliamentary elections .This pre-election budget ,technically a vote on account seeks parliament’s approval for an advanced grant to cover essential government expenditure for first four months of the new fiscal year starting in April. The budget is of Rs 47.66 lakh crore and is six percent higher than financial year 2023.The citizens pined great hopes on the budget but they were disappointed because the budget in question is a cosmetic exercise and has nothing new for the public and at the most it can be called as the old wine in new bottles and so general public is worried about the new budget .There is no relief for the middle income group and for salaried people as the income tax slabs have been kept unchanged .The salaried class hoped that some sops will be there for them but at the end of the day there is nothing for the fixed income group .The only satisfaction is that the income tax slabs have been kept unchanged .There is dire need to increase the income tax slabs and also the need to increase the standard deductions .But this concern of the people has not been addressed. There is nothing new in the budget for the pensioners .While the cost of living and inflation is steadily rising ,the pensioners are facing economic penury and the Budget is silent on the pensioners .Inflation has made the life of common man miserable and the Budget should have made provision to tackle the problem of steeply rising prices of the goods and services .People of the UT had high hopes from the interim budget ,but they has disappointed them. As expected ,there was not much about price rise or job creation .So there was not much that came out of the budget .The price rise is still high ,the joblessness in this country is at an all-time high .Nothing was discussed in the budget which the common man or poor will feel happy about .It is just a budget and playing with the numbers only .People were expecting a change from this budget because inflation is high .The people were expecting some relief ,but unfortunately there is no change .Leaders of INDIA have said that there is nothing in the union interim budget for poor ,women and youth ,while calling it a new ”jumla’ .Delhi minister Atishi told ANI ,”The budget proves that this is a Jumla government .Prime minister Narendra Modi has said in 2014 that he would provide 2 crore jobs every year but not even one crore people got jobs .Today ,they have given a new jumla that they will provide 55 lakh jobs .She said no step has been taken to reduce inflation. .The interim budget has poured cold water on the expectations of the people .The interim budget 2024 increased capital expenditure and announced projects for rail infrastructure ,SHG,s The budget 2024 focused on fiscal consolidation ,infra ,agri ,green growth and railways .However ,no changes were made in the tax rates ,which is a disappointment to the salaried individuals .While no changes were seen in the tax regime in this budget ,the FM announced that over the last 10 years ,tax collections have more than doubled .In a disappointment for the common man and the middle class salaried taxpayers ,no changes in income tax slabs or income tax rate were made in the budget 2024.However congress MP Shashi Tharoor said,’ ‘Not very much out of it .There were a lot of rhetorical language and very little concrete on implementation .Sithraman said ,”She talked about a number of things which couched in vague language like hope ,expectation and the like but nothing in practical terms has been provided in the interim budget .Reacting to the interim budget ,the BJP’s principal opposition congress has said the budget did not have much to say .Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, ”The union budget cannot and does not indicate any policy decision .But the way the government has presented the budget ,it clearly suggested the policy the government .It is an interim budget and cannot reflect any policy matter of the government. ”Congress MP Karti Chidambaram called interim budget a ,”Mere administrative exercise to ensure the government of India has the requisite funds to carry its normal business until the new parliament is constituted .”That is what they have done’ ‘,the son of former finance minister P Chidambraram said, adding ,”Except for making their obligatory self congratulatory .self praise phrases ,nothing else is there and nothing should have been there and rightly so .Nothing is here’ ‘.Jammu and Kashmir based National conference chief Farooq Abdullah said the actual budget will come in July. ”We hope the people will benefit ,tourism will increase ,industries will grow and nation will progress. ”Abdullah said Priyanka Chaturvadi ,a member of parliament for Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv sena said that the union finance minister has done is to pour water on the expectations of people in the cold weather .As per AAP ,MP Swati Maliwal ,”This is a disappointing budget .Inflation and unemployment are at peak in the country but there is nothing in the budget about it .It is a disappointing budget for the common people .”Opposition dubs India’s pre-election budget 2024 disappointing and says there is no mention of inflation and unemployment .Soon after her presentation ,opposition leaders came down heavily on the government ,with some of them using terms like’ ‘hallow ” and’ disappointing ‘to describe the last budget presented by the finance minister in the second term of prime minister Narendra Modi .Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that despite persistent calls for enhancing fiscal federalism ,the budget remained silent on many of Kerala’s demands .Several declarations appear poised to exacerbate impoverishment and inflation ,posing a significant threat to the livelihoods of millions .To conclude it can be said that the interim budget 2024 is merely an exercise to showcase numbers and it can be said to be old wine in new bottles.
(The author is a columnist,
social and KP activist).
