Why it may be time to stop looking for instant gratification—like investor and taxpayer sops—from budgetary proposals. Just don't tell that to the pandemic-hit jobless and children in rural schools
Additional support for public schools to improve the teacher-pupil ratio, classroom space and teaching/learning materials will be a challenge for the government
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When, minutes into her speech, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman declared that Budget 2022 would lay the building blocks for the next 25 years of the Indian economy, it held promise of a vision document that took both long-term objectives and short-term challenges into account. Sure enough, there was plenty of the former, with high-technology and digital being the fuel for inclusive development, energy transition and infrastructure creation, from roads, railways, airports and ports to mass transport, waterways and logistics. Such massive capital expenditure—public and private—will over time create employment, which in turn will have more citizens spending and contributing to the growth of a robust economy.
A grandiose blueprint for an India at 100 from an India at 75 brought expectations of a ‘dream budget’—an exaltation first created when India was at 50, in 1997. If Manmohan Singh’s 1991 budget ensured that India embarked on the road to economic reform and liberalisation, the 1997 edition ensured continuity at a time when the path ahead seemed headed towards a dead end. Then Finance Minister P Chidambaram pulled out some heavy artillery to ensure that the pace of reform would be swifter and bolder: The maximum marginal income tax rate for individuals was lowered, rates for domestic companies were cut, customs duties were slashed, and excise duty structures were streamlined—all pretty radical steps in the 90s (and would be considered progressive even today).
Budgets on their own don’t determine long-term economic success, but it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the 1997 edition did its bit to boost tax collections, spur economic growth and set the stock market indices free in the decade that followed—till the 2008 global financial crisis ended the party.
What does Chidambaram’s Dream Budget have in common with Budget 2022, and the last few of Sitharaman? Both aspire to create long-term transformational change. For instance, in 2020, Sitharaman stressed on the theme of “Ease of Living, Aspirational India, Economic Development and a Caring Society”. These entailed farmer welfare, infrastructure creation and climate change, among other sub-themes. A year later, the buzzwords were in a similar vein: Nation first, doubling farmer’s income, strong infrastructure, inclusive development, among others.