Budget is something that not everyone understands easily but there are some things that touch everyone. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a bigger Rs.45 lakh crore budget. On the issue of budget this time, it was believed from the beginning that arrangements would have been made to benefit everyone. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has done the same in this time’s budget. A lot of care has to be taken when elections are on the horizon. It does not matter if someone is not pleased, but one must take care not to be offended. Budgeting is not an easy task in a big country like India. It is necessary to take care of public welfare and at the same time plan according to which the speed of development of the country is maintained. The tax slab is something that applies to all. There was no change in the tax slab for nine years. This time many changes have been made in the tax. The tax exemption limit has been increased from five lakhs to seven lakhs.
One truth about budgets needs to be understood. Expenditure can be incurred only if there is income. There are some expenditures in the country including health, education and infrastructure that the government has to incur. This should be understood from the example of a house. Basic needs must be met from the income of a person who earns at home. Life cannot go on without food grains and other essentials. Arrangements have to be made for the health of the people in the house as well. Plans have to be made for children’s education as well. After spending all the necessary expenses, if there is anything left, it can be used to plan a fun trip or buy a luxury item. At home, one has to take care that no one gets offended. If there are two children, both have to be satisfied. Both women and men have been targeted in the budget. Not only this, every age group has been kept in view. Apart from this, all classes of people including farmers have been taken care of.
Start-ups have been buzzing in our country for the past few times. This time also agriculture related start-ups have been kept in the center. There are many things connected with agriculture which can increase the income of the farmers. A separate fund has been earmarked for agricultural start-ups. New start-ups in the agriculture sector will get a boost from this budget. Rural sector is linked with the development of agriculture. We see villages breaking up and urbanization increasing. In order to keep urbanization within limits, it is necessary to develop the agriculture and rural sector all round. Our country has achieved significant economic development in the last one decade. When the clouds of recession are looming over the countries of the world, even in such circumstances, experts are saying that India’s development will continue.
This year’s budget with seven targets is given the name ‘Saptarshi’. While the country is celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, there has been an attempt to identify it as the first budget of the ‘Amrit Kaal’. The seven priorities were inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector. The estimated growth rate is 7% for the year. Provisions including ‘Mahila Sanman Savings Scheme for women, Digital Library for children and youth, choice of 50 tourist destinations, Digilocker and Aadhar as one stop solution, Outlay for PM Aavas Yojana enhanced by 66% , Per capita income has more than doubled to Rs.1.97 lakh crore in nine years, PAN will be used as common identifier and increase in limits of Senior Citizen Savings Scheme are significant. Earlier, a separate budget of railways was presented. Now railways have also been included in the general budget. 2.4 lakh crore has been allocated for railways in this budget. 9 times more than the 2013 budget for railways has been allocated in this year’s budget. When it comes to budgeting, the common man is most interested in what is cheap and what is expensive. Gold, silver, cigarettes, etc. are going to become expensive. Some items including mobiles, bicycles and toys are going to get cheaper. Experts are currently decoding this ‘Saptarshi’ budget of the finance minister and predicting how much the people will benefit and how the pace of development of the country will be.
The truth among all these is that if the government finally gives something, it also takes it from the other pocket. With the introduction of GST and other changes, the budget is no longer the hype it used to be. The effects of the budget are gradual. If we go to see the overall, the experts are showing the budget this time as positive.
