NO ELIXIR FOR RURAL INDIA

With substantial allocation cuts in most subsidies, Union Budget 2023-24 has very little to offer the rural population BHAGIRATH, HIMANSHU N AND SHAGUN NEW DELHI

I PRESENT the Budget for 2023-24. This is the first Budget in Amrit Kaal.” Going by the norms of presenting the Union Budget—a constitutional exercise—this first line of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was a departure from the tradition as it talked of transforming the country’s annual financial statement into a futuristic vision document. This practice has started only last year.

On February 1, 2022, Sitharaman introduced the Amrit Kaal (era of elixir) in her budget speech and defined it as the next 25 years of development to mark the country’s 100th independence year in 2047. She qualified the budget for 2022-23 as the one seeking “to lay the foundation and give a blueprint to steer the economy” during this era. In the budget, she claimed to roll out the first set of development tenets for this “era”. “This vision (of Amrit Kaal) focuses on three things: first, facilitating ample opportunities for citizens, especially the youth, to fulfil their aspirations; second, providing strong impetus to growth and job creation; and third, strengthening macro-economic stability.”

The budget 2023-24’s context makes it a defining one—it is the last full budget before the ruling National Democratic Alliance seeks re-election in May 2024, and being the first budget of the post-covid period, expectations were that it will lay out a blueprint for accelerating the Indian growth story as opposed to merely responding to the setbacks produced by the pandemic. This also means the crisis time in economic terms is over, and the budget should now reflect the intention to build on pre-pandemic economic indicators.