Poor Man's Budget

Rural development, agriculture and social pensions all found prominent mention in the Budget announcements.

- Joe C. Mathew

Should we be victims of mere populism or wasteful expenditure?” Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, had asked while presenting the first Budget of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in July 2014. He was referring to the funds the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had earmarked for social security schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), as BJP had dubbed these as mere populist schemes without any tangible benefits. Five years later, the same question stares at the stand-by finance minister Piyush Goyal who presented the last Budget of the NDA government, as he seems to have done exactly what Jaitley feared, be overly populist.

The Interim Budget 2019/20 is all about handouts and welfare plans for farmers, labourers, small businesses, and people at the lowest end of the taxpayer base. While the MGNREGA scheme continues to get a substantial budgetary support of 60,000 crore for 2019/20, there are a host of new schemes that can be termed more populist in size and scope. The direct income support scheme for 120 million farmers who owns two hectares or less will alone require the government to spend about 75,000 crore. In addition, there are plans to partly fund a senior citizens pension scheme that can help 100 million labourers in the unorganised sector. The government has also announced full rebate on the income tax liability of about 30 million people who have a taxable income of up to 5 lakh a year. While the ruling party has managed to connect with the majority of Indian voters through these schemes, are the sops good enough to make a difference? And does the government have the resources to fund these?

Inadequate Measures