Disappointing First budget, Modi govt fails to inspire the nation

Never in the history of India has such a dull budget presented by any finance minister. The BJP govt started its third term with this budget. It offers nothing to everyone. It is a general belief that the Middle Classes support the BJP as it is known for supporting economic development and does not merely rely on distributing freebies to garner votes during elections. It is true that the BJP supports the process of globalization, liberalization, and privatization. Due to this commitment, the BJP lost power in 2004. After that, no government in India dared to mention the Ministry of Disinvestment. 

The nation was hopeful that the BJP government would provide some relief to taxpayers. The tax rates were expected to be lowered for the salaried classes, who are the primary taxpayers in India. However, the budget did not meet these expectations. This has left the largest support base of the BJP, the middle class, feeling deeply disappointed. 

Secondly, India is an aspirational nation. It has a vast young population, and most part of it is struggling for the basic needs of life. Poverty, unemployment, low wages, price rise, poor infrastructure, non-existent civic amenities, high cost of health and higher education, and poor state of primary education are the day-to-day realities of life. Despite this doom and gloom all around, many Indians believe that this century belongs to them. They want to see the projects that would mark the arrival of their beloved nation on the world stage. Hence, they rally behind large-scale projects and take personal pride in them. 

India needs the world’s largest bridges, the world’s tallest buildings, the world’s biggest factories, the longest expressways, giant airports, and ports, among other things. Even the world’s largest and top universities. BJP did not introduce any plan for any such project in the budget. They could have built the world’s largest hospital in Delhi or anywhere, the world’s university, the world’s longest and widest highways or the densest metro project etc. BJP offered nothing that could inspire the nation and instill confidence in them that their time will come. 

Unfortunately, Modi has copied the piecemeal solutions to India’s problems. It is high time for this nation to learn from previous policies. India's fortunes cannot be changed by hiding the holes in our system. One of the biggest holes in our system is not tackling the problem from the front but rather using short-term solutions. This short-term thinking is behind most of our problems. The biggest problem in the country today is unemployment. And it is a common problem in all states and union territories. The whole nation is watching the painful images of thousands of educated youth in Gujarat and Maharastra lining up for a handful of private jobs. Even though the mainstream media is trying to hide the problem, the dire situation in every state is reaching the masses through social media. 

Now the question is, what has the BJP done to solve the problem in this budget? The short-term relief is asking all Public Sector Undertakings and Banks to fill the vacant positions. It would have generated at least a million high-quality jobs for the youth. Secondly, the BJP government could offer incentives to private organizations to employ youth for one year while the government promises to pay for their one-year salary. It would have made students job-ready after one year, but the government chose a piecemeal solution of internships where they would pay a meager sum of 6000 rupees to interns in private companies. 

The government could also make it easier for youngsters to take govt loans to pursue higher education in STEM or launch their own businesses without providing any collateral security to banks for financial institutions up to One crore. Many youngsters all across the country are willing to start small businesses, but they lack the capital to do so. The government would have burned some money in this process, but lots of sensible youth would have generated self-employment. This process should be made easy, and the government should give a guarantee to banks. 

[Mukesh Devrari]