Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday wrote herself to history by becoming the second woman leader to present financial proposals for the financial year 2019-20. The finance minister unveiled an elaborate plan for investment driven growth and announced a new payment platform for the MSMEs to give it the vital confidence.
Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, was the only woman to have presented Budget for fiscal 1970-71.
Sitharaman also became the first full fledged woman finance minister to present the Budget which is also the first economic roadmap of the Modi government 2.0 which has come with a renewed and enhanced mandate in the just concluded polls.
The momentous occasion was witnessed by the finance minister’s parents and daughter Vangmayi Parkala who were witnessing the proceedings from the VIP gallery. Before standing up to read the Budget speech, Sitharaman folded hands towards the direction of her parents as her father quietly acknowledged the gesture.
Sitharaman, an alumnus of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, read out an Urdu couplet and referred to a quote by Chanakya, the ancient India’s philosopher and economist, which led to thumping of desks.
The finance minister said that by the year 2022, the government would ensure electricity and cooking gas for all but hastened to add except for those who were not willing to take the connections.
Sitharaman emphasised that poor and farmers will continue to get focused attention by the government.
In the packed House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari were seated in the front row. In the opposition benches, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul Gandhi and Dr Farooq Abdullah of National Conference were present.
The finance minister said the government would make India further attractive for foreign investment and sectors like aviation, media and insurance sectors would be opened amid repeated thumping of desks by treasury bench members.
Describing the Union Budget for 2019-20 as the Budget for New India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it had a roadmap to transform the agriculture sector of the country. “The Budget is one of hope and it is a budget that will boost India’s development in the 21st century,” the Prime Minister said in his reaction.
He said the Budget would strengthen the industrial sector and further increase the participation of women.
“This Budget will simplify tax administration, modernise infrastructure and would quicken the pace of progress of middle class and speed up the development,” he said.
The Budget will give strength to the poor and also act as an all encompassing step to empower poor, Dalit, and farmers, Modi said. “The Budget will herald a new and better tomorrow for the youth of the country,” he said.
Opposition Congress however lashed out at the Narendra Modi government and said the budget proposals did not have any steps to help farmers mitigate their challenges and also had no policy on reviving rural economy. “Will a few words solve the agrarian crisis?” tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala and added that there was only ‘maximum intent, minimum content’ in the budget.
“An utterly lacklustre, nondescript, uninspiring and directionless budget. Zero on economic revival. Zero on rural growth. zero on job creation. zero on urban rejuvenation. Can a mundane jugglery of ‘acronyms’ pass off for vision for a New India?” Surjewala tweeted.
He also alleged that there is no proposal to double the farmer’s income, no promise on Minimum Support Price (MSP), no way to fight drought, no proposal to revive rural economy.
Referring to the budget proposal to increase excise duty on petrol and diesel and cess on road and infrastructure, Surjewala said it will cause an increase of Rs 2 for diesel price only. (UNI)
