LOOKING FOR A BUDGET WE DESERVE

Planning organisations, especially those administering welfare schemes, need to be more connected to the poor. It is hoped this Budget would improve justice delivery to the marginalised

- HARISH BIJOOR

AS you read this column, we are just about three weeks away from the presentation of the Union Budget for 2024-25 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the distinction of being the driver of the Budget ethos possibly for the largest number of times, next only to Jawaharlal Nehru. The first full Budget of the 18th Lok Sabha already packs a lot of expectation. There is a palpable air of anticipation around it.

President Droupadi Murmu was the first to formally kick-start the Budget expectations. In the recent joint session of parliament, the president set the expectations on track. She spoke of "historic steps", "futuristic vision" and "far-reaching policies", for a start. Each of these phrases packs a lot of punch. The presidential address, in more ways than one, sets the tone of what is to come. It sets the bar, the standard.

Even as the nation prepares to look at the Economic Survey (which was not released before the last, interim Budget presented before the general election), the tone, tenor and decibel has been set. India is going to see and get a Budget it deserves. What does that mean?