Budget for Ballot LIVE: Narendra Modi government has lapped up its final chance to woo voters ahead of the general elections in Budget 2019, by appealing to the widest cross-section with its announcements. News18 is parsing through finance minister Piyush Goyal’s announcements with a political lens and bringing to you its impact, analysis and commentary throughout the day.
In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the budget had something for everyone and will directly benefit 12 crore farmers, 3 crore middle class taxpayers and 30-40 crore labourers.
Finance minister Piyush Goyal, in the interim budget, had proposed that income tax exemption limit will be doubled from Rs 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh, but left the implementation of it to the next government. Amid confusion on when the changes in tax structure would be effective, he clarified that he just “wanted the middle class to know what the government was planning”.
The centre piece of this poll-itical budget was the direct cash transfer scheme for farmers to arrest the unrest in the agrarian community ahead of elections, in an answer to Congress, which announced farm loan waivers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Piyush Goyal says the government will give farmers whose land holdings are less than 2 hectacre Rs 6000 per annum and 12 crore farmers will benefit from the scheme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s sixth and final budget before the polls due by May is supposed to be an interim budget or a Vote on Account, but the announcements have led the opposition to call it a full budget. “There was nothing interim about it,” former finance minister P Chidambaram said. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said giving farmers roughly Rs 17 per day was an insult.
Under pressure from a resurgent Congress which is going all out to lure voters with the promise of debt waiver for farmers and a minimum income for the poor if voted to power, Goyal has announced a direct transfer of cash to farmers. This may or may not replace subsidies that the farmer gets but will certainly be aimed at addressing rural distress, which was primarily blamed for BJP’s defeat in recent assembly elections in key states.
Goyal, who stepped in as interim finance minister after Arun Jaitley had to fly to New York for medical treatment, was widely expected to raise income tax exemption thresholds, but the government passed the burden to the next government.
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