The pre-budget economic survey has advocated the path of privatisation and pro-corporatism in the name of 'Viksit Bharat', and its full reflection is in the budget presented today. But every budget is presented under the guise of public welfare, the same effort has been made this time too, so this budget tells less and hides more.

After the budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament, no one was in a position to tell what is the total size of our budget, how much budget has been allocated for schemes like MNREGA, Anganwadi, Mid-day Meal etc., or how much amount has been kept for SC/ST sub-plan alone, or how much amount has been provisioned to spend on food and fertilizer subsidy for the poor and farmers of this country?? All these questions are because yesterday in his address in the Parliament, the President had described "my government" as the government of the poor, farmers and youth. If the countrymen do not get the answers to all these questions directly from the Parliament and their government puts it to the task of scrutinizing the budget documents, then the stature of the President can only be that of a "poor lady".

Yes, two things were definitely revealed from the budget and the media was working hard to project them throughout the day. First, there is spring in Bihar, this spring is because the assembly election arena is to be set up there. Second, tax exemption has been given on income up to Rs 12 lakh and the middle class has ridden on such a huge relief for the first time. This ride of relief is also because election campaign is going on in Delhi and the funeral procession of the Aam Aadmi Party is to be taken out. This is the "hidden agenda" of this budget of the BJP government, in which actually nothing is hidden. Now if the budget of the central government is prepared keeping in mind the elections of the states to be held sooner or later, then the readers of this article can understand how much this government respects the federal principle of the Constitution and the federal structure of the country! Chanting the name of Ambedkar with a "knife in the armpit" to deceive the Dalits and tribals is a different matter.

Only time will tell how much the people of Bihar will be thrilled by this spring, because so many populist announcements made in the budget during the last ten years of Modi rule are gathering dust on paper. And this is Amrit Kaal. The nectar kept in the Kumbh is for the corporates, for the people there is only that Kumbh, in which they have to take a dip and become virtuous.

As far as the question of tax exemption on income of Rs 12 lakh is concerned, it must be asked how many people in our country have an income of Rs 12 lakh? The report of this government itself shows that the spending power of a rural family in our country is Rs 8000 and in cities it is Rs 14000 per month. The unorganized workers of our country, which is 95% of the total workers, is struggling for a minimum monthly wage of Rs 26000 or an annual income of Rs 3.12 lakh. Right now, these workers get only 33 to maximum 50% of this demand. The condition of farmers is even worse than this. MNREGA workers have been demanding a wage of Rs 600 for years, but it is hanging around Rs 225. How many of the salaried people have a salary of Rs 12 lakh? Then the few people to whom this budget is showing the dream of its benefits, the rising inflation and the increasing burden of indirect taxes are going to take away this savings of theirs too.

Also read: Union Budget 2025: Cosmetic Changes Amidst Structural Economic Crisis

Now let us come to those questions, which are the real questions of the people of our country. But we will not shame BJP by saying anything on its promise of giving employment to 2 crore people every year and doubling the income of farmers and MSP based on C-2+50% cost, because it should be said by those who feel some shame by following the principle of "Praan jaahi par vachan na jaahi". Servitude of capital and corporateism takes away shame.

In its economic survey, this government has accepted that the inflation rate is 5%. This time the size of the budget is Rs 50.65 lakh crore, which is Rs 2.45 lakh crore more than the previous budget (Rs 48.20 lakh crore) and this is also an increase of 5%. If this inflation is taken into account, then there has been no increase in the actual size of the budget and we cannot expect any better result in the overall impact of the economy. Out of the expenditure provisions made in the previous budget, Rs 1 lakh crore is not being spent at all and this is being done to reduce the fiscal deficit at the cost of the welfare of the common man.

The contribution of the agriculture sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased. Along with this, it is a notable fact that the dependence of 2% people on the agriculture sector has increased, because before the Corona period, 44% people used to work in this sector, now their number has increased to 46% and this has happened due to reverse migration from cities to villages. Given this situation, more allocation is needed in agriculture and allied activities, but only Rs 3,71,687 crore has been allocated, whereas last year Rs 3,76,720 crore was allocated. If rising inflation is taken into account, this cut is more than 6%.

Similarly, the fund of MNREGA has been kept constant at Rs 86000 crore, while wages and loan amount of more than Rs 11000 crore will be paid from this. So, this time again, in MNREGA item, taking inflation into account, a cut of more than 17% comes to the fore, whereas MNREGA is considered the 'lifeline of rural India'. By the way, BJP's enmity towards MNREGA is not hidden from anyone.

Pradhan Mantri Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi are the most publicized schemes of this government, but even in the insurance scheme, Rs 3622 crore has been cut. According to calculations based on inflation, this cut is more than 26%. There has also been no increase in the allocation of Kisan Samman Nidhi, while crores of farmers are still outside the scope of this scheme. This scheme was implemented in the year 2019 and since then only Rs 500 per month is being given to the farmers included in this scheme, while inflation has increased by more than 35% in the last six years.

In our country, fertilizer subsidy allocation for farmers is a significant part of the budget. We are highly dependent on imports in this regard and farmers always face fertilizer crisis during the farming season. Despite this, fertilizer subsidy has been reduced from Rs 171299 crore to Rs 167887 crore. This reduction of Rs 3412 crore is equivalent to 7% in real terms. This will affect the food grain self-sufficiency of our country. Similarly, food grain subsidy has also been reduced drastically this time as well, like every time. This will have a direct impact on the public distribution system, because despite the promotion of free food grains, crores of people will be deprived of the availability of cheap food grains. This step of the Modi government will push us further down in the Global Hunger Index.

So, what is there for farmers? There is Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhanya Yojana, for which no budget has been allocated! There is 100% FDI in the insurance sector, which means complete privatization of the insurance sector. There is an announcement to organize farmers into FPOs, which means moving towards corporatization of agriculture. 

In fact, the way this government is giving tax exemptions to the corporates, waiving their bank loans and refusing to impose property tax and inheritance tax on them, it has no way left to increase its revenue collection. With this limited revenue, there will be populist announcements for the general public, which will have no connection with the budget allocation and the corporates will have a free hand to loot the wealth of this country, about which the budget will never tell. This is actually a budget made by the corporates to facilitate the looting of the corporates, which the Modi government has presented through the mouth of Nirmala Sitharaman.


The author is an independent writer on politics, social and agrarian issues. The views are personal.