Interim Budget 2019 triggers mixed reactions

The interim Budget 2019, announced by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal last day, has triggered mixed reactions, with a section calling it as a pro-poor, pro-farmer, pro-middle class and pro-unorganised sector budget, and the other describing it as a poll gimmick budget which disregards all time-respected conventions on how a poll year budget should look like.

The three main policies announced in the Budget are targeted at farmers, salaried middle class workers and unorganised workers. The Budget offers a sum of Rs 6000 per annum for every farmer who owns less than 2 hectares of agricultural land. It assures that no income tax will be levied from those salaried workers who earn less than five lakh a year. It also proposes an attractive pension policy for unorganised workers which ensures each unorganised worker above the age of 60 gets a pension of at least Rs 3000 a month.

It is not necessary to go deep into the budget to understand which the actual nature of the present interim Budget is. The three key polices itself speaks abundantly about its nature, and even its intention.

The government needs huge funds to run these mega policies. Already several experts have expressed their concern about the capability of the country to gather as much as required to run the mega projects mentioned in the interim Budget.

The Budget may have shocked the opposition. In the first few hours after the declaration of the budget, the effect was clearly visible in their scattered responses. It has taken several hours for the opposition to articulate an effective narrative against the Budget.

The opposition’s main allegation is that the budget is of populist in nature and it defies all time-respected conventions on how a poll year budget should look like.

From the initial public response, it is clear that the public is very happy with the big announcements aimed to woo the section of the population in which all political parties rely for their existence.

It is assumed that the interim Budget will help the ruling to win back the support of the faction which recently showed the signs of disaffection, anger and changed loyalty in the recent assembly elections.

Vignesh. S. G

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