'No appeasement; no denial; budget a pillar of growth'

In an interview with Doordarshan, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman talks about the budget's attempts to present people with uniform opportunities with a focus on welfare. Edited excerpts

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The entire budget-making process is connected with the development of the country, and you have provided a road map for 'Developed India'. With this ocean of ideas, after the brainstorming led by you and your team since October, which gems have emerged from it that are now before the country?

I want to say that this brainstorming did not start from October 8. It started even before that, when the honourable Prime Minister addressed the nation. In this golden period, to take India towards Viksit Bharat 2047, we have thought in great detail about what steps should be taken. Therefore, you can see that in India, we are recognising only four castes-regarding development, if we fulfil the aspirations of women, the poor, farmers, and youth, they will progress, and because of their progress, the country will also progress... We are paying attention to infrastructure without waiting for private investment, but I am happy to say that investment from the private sector is also scaling up now. Therefore, you can see that we are continuing... and for the rapid development of our country, we also need to encourage innovation, which we have declared the amount for and have also arranged for. We will elaborate on this in detail in the July budget.

Congratulations on your sixth budget. A very clear strand in this is little or no populism whatsoever. So what is the thought that went behind taking such a bold move ahead of a general election?