In poll year, the interim budget's four poles

Women, youth, farmers, and the poor.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The political thrust of the interim budget by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday was explicitly targeted at these four key demographics, or castes, first identified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November as a response to the Opposition's demand for a nationwide caste census.

The finance minister listed a raft of measures that form the core of the Centre's outreach towards these social groups, and promised some additional schemes that aimed at meeting their social and economic aspirations.

Exuding confidence about a third term in this year's general elections, the finance minister doubled down on welfare and repeatedly highlighted how the government's economic philosophy had delivered on prosperity and empowerment - the likely contours of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) poll pitch in a few months.

The government office also underlined its commitment to ideological concerns and its core vote bank by announcing the formation of a high-powered committee to make recommendations to address challenges posed by "fast population growth and demographic changes".

It again underlined its social justice and secular credentials, contrasting its philosophy of inclusive and transparent development for all segments of society with the approach of previous governments, which it termed as nepotism (bhai-bhatijavad). "Previously, social justice was mostly a political slogan. For our government, social justice is an effective and necessary governance model. The saturation approach of covering all eligible people is the true and comprehensive achievement of social justice. This is secularism in action, reduces corruption, and prevents nepotism," she said.