FM: Won't let next gen suffer our hardships

The focus of the budget this year as well as budgets presented by the NDA government in general - is on 2047, the deadline for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a developed India (Viksit Bharat), finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained in an interview on Saturday.

-  Rajeev Jayaswal

It will not be possible to achieve this by just adopting a narrow sectoral approach, she added. The emphasis needs to be on all sectors, and on everyone, Sitharaman said. On Thursday, she presented an interim budget that continued her government's focus on capital expenditure (11% growth on a number that has already trebled in four years), listed its achievements on various fronts and its measures aimed at helping key constituencies (such as women and young people), exceeded its fiscal deficit target, and refrained from launching any populist schemes aimed at the summer's general election. It was a move that many analysts said reflected the government's confidence that it would return to power.