The first budget of Narendra Modi 3.0 government presented in Parliament on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clearly reflects the after-effects of Lok Sabha elections, with Nitish Kumar's Bihar and N Chandrababu Naidu's Andhra Pradesh getting a financial bonanza. Though both these chief ministers were demanding Special Status for their states, it was not granted. Both the states got nearly Rs 75,000 crore worth projects in the budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleverly addressed the core issue of jobs that the Opposition had been raising. The Centre will implement five schemes under the 'Employment-Linked Incentive' as part of the Prime Minister's package.
In the first scheme, one-month wage to all first-time employees, in all formal sectors, registered in EPFO, will be given through direct benefit transfer up to Rs 15,000, in three instalments. The Centre will provide one-month wage to all persons newly entering the workforce in all formal sectors. The direct benefit transfer of one-month salary in 3 instalments to first-time employees, as registered in the EPFO, will be up to Rs 15,000. The eligibility limit will be a salary of up to Rs 1 lakh per month. The scheme is expected to benefit 2.1 crore youth. The second scheme will provide incentives, at specified scales, directly to employees and employers with respect to their EPFO contribution in the first four years of employment, and this scheme is expected to benefit 30 lakh youth entering employment. In the third scheme, the Centre will reimburse to employers up to Rs 3,000 per month for two years towards their EPFO contribution for each additional employee, and this is expected to incentivize additional employment of 50 lakh persons. In the fourth scheme under PM's package, 20 lakh youth will be skilled over a 5-year period, and 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes will be upgraded. In MSMEs, the limit of Mudra loans will be raised from Rs 10 lakh currently to Rs 20 lakh for entrepreneurs who have successfully repaid previous loans under 'Tarun' category. In the fifth scheme under PM's package, an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 per month along with one-time assistance of Rs 6,000 will be given to those who will get internship opportunities in 500 top companies. The aim is to provide internships to one crore youth in five years, and it will provide exposure for one year to youth in real-life business environment in varied professions. Companies will bear the training cost and 10 per cent of the internship cost from their CSR funds.
While announcing special assistance for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, Sitharaman said, the Centre will formulate a 'Purvodaya plan' for the development of the eastern region covering Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and AP. This will cover human resource development, infra projects and the generation of economic opportunities. For Bihar, the Centre will support the development of an industrial note in Gaya on the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor and also support road connectivity projects, namely Patna-Purnea Expressway, Buxar-Bhagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spurs, and addition bridge over Ganga at Buxar, at a total cost of Rs 26,000 crore. A new 2400 MW power plant at a cost of Rs 21,400 crore will be set up in Pirpainti, Bihar.
For Andhra Pradesh, Sitharaman announced special financial support for the new capital, Amravati, through foreign development agencies. Rs 15,000 crore will be arranged in the current financial year. The Centre will also provide finance for the early completion of the Polavaram irrigation project, apart from providing funds for water, power, railways and roads on Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and Bangalore-Hyderabad Industrial Corridor. Additional grants for backward regions of Rayalaseema, Prakasam and North Coast Andhra will also be provided.
Soon after the Budget was presented, Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Uddhav Thackeray described as the 'Kursi Bachao Budget', since JD(U) and TDP are the major allies in the NDA government. Welcoming the Budget, Prime Minister Modi said, "This budget empowers every segment of society..It provides new strength to the middle class...By focusing on manufacturing and infrastructure, the budget will invigorate economic development and sustain its momentum...Employment Linked Incentive scheme will create crores of new jobs across the country.. this will enable young people from villages and impoverished backgrounds to work in top companies, opening new doors of possibility for them." Responding to criticism from the Opposition, Nirmala Sitharaman said, those who are describing this as 'Kursi Bachao Budget' must not forget that their 37-party-alliance managed to win only 230 Lok Sabha seats, whereas BJP alone has won 240 LS seats.
Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar thanked Modi for providing special assistance to their states. It cannot be denied that the Budget seeks to find solutions to Bihar's economic problems, though Special Status was not granted. Bihar got more assistance than it could have got if Special Status had been granted. Bihar suffers from road and air connectivity, power shortage and lack of big industries. The Budget addresses all these concerns of the people of Bihar. Bihar's education sector is in a mess and the Budget has provided for new medical colleges and educational institutions. I hope the people of Bihar will benefit from these projects, and from the political point of view, both BJP and its ally JD-U may get the advantage too. With Andhra getting special assistance, four southern states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, ruled by opposition parties, are unhappy.
Telangana's Congress CM Revanth Reddy has the right to register his protest, but he cannot disagree that it was his party, Congress, which had promised a special package for AP when the state was being bifurcated. The Centre had promised assistance for setting up its new capital in Amravati. It is the Modi government which is now fulfilling that promise. It is true that AP and Bihar have received special budgetary assistance because the Modi government has got support for his NDA from Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. If Modi tries to help his allies, what is wrong about that? Will any government try to keep its allies unhappy? It will not be correct to analyze the Centre's budget on the basis of allocation to states. All states get the benefit of Centrally-sponsored schemes, whether they are ruled by Mamata Banerjee or Revanth Reddy or Bhagwant Mann or Siddaramaiah or Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu or MK Stalin or Hemant Soren. It will be of no use to expect these leaders to say that the Modi government has given them adequate assistance. They belong to the Opposition and they will naturally oppose the Budget. When the BJP was in Opposition, its leaders used to say the same about the UPA government's budgets. There is nothing new in this. Any government at the Centre always keeps its political interests in mind whenever a Budget is prepared. Modi did the same for Bihar and AP, but he did not stop at that. The issue of jobs, which hit the BJP hard during the recent general elections, was also taken care of in the Budget. Apart from incentivizing the manufacturing industry and top companies, which will hire new workers, one must remember that India has the world's third largest startup eco-system, and Modi's budget has abolished the Angel Tax that was being levied on investors. Twelve industrial parks under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme will be sanctioned, and 14 cities having a population of more than 30 lakh people, will get transit-oriented development plans.
For personal Income Tax, some changes have been made in IT slabs only for the new IT regime, and the standard deduction limit has been raised. For agriculture and allied sectors, Rs 1.52 lakh crore have been provided, with a major focus on achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soyabean and sunflower. In the next two years, one crore farmers will be initiated into natural farming. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has promised to encourage farmers to grow more cash crops, while the Centre would ensure that farmers get full remuneration for their crops. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait disagrees. He said the government is more interested in benefiting corporates in the farm sector. If one goes through the Budget speech, it will be clear that the Centre wants to raise farmers' income, by carrying out the full review of the agri-research set-up to focus on raising productivity and developing climate-resilient varieties. New 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops will be released for cultivation by farmers. Congress leaders have claimed that Sitharaman has done a "copy-paste job" by drawing job incentivization schemes from the Congress manifesto. If one accepts this argument, then how can anybody say that there is nothing new in the budget? Those who say it is a 'Kursi Bachao Budget' must realize that Rahul Gandhi had made promises of 'khataakhat' cash transfers to youth and women during the poll campaign. Was it not meant to get 'kursi' (power)? If the BJP, keeping its political interests in mind, plans to provide jobs to millions of youth, how can anybody say that this approach is wrong?
Aaj Ki Baat: Monday to Friday, 9:00 pm
India's Number One and most followed Super Prime Time News Show 'Aaj Ki Baat- Rajat Sharma Ke Saath' was launched just before the 2014 General Elections. Since its inception, the show has redefined India's super-prime time and is numerically far ahead of its contemporaries.
