Union Budget 2019 India: Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first full-time woman Finance minister of India, today presented her maiden Budget in Parliament. In a break from tradition, Sitharaman carried the Union Budget documents to the Parliament in a red bag, reminiscent of the traditional ‘bahi-khata’ — a book of account maintained by traditional businessmen — with a national emblem, replacing the colonial practice of carrying the documents in a leather briefcase. The practice of carrying the documents in a leather briefcase was considered as a tradition of colonial practice, which now becomes history.
Stating that in the government in its second term is committed to accelerating growth, Sitharaman said, “People of India validated two goals for country’s future in general elections – national security and economic growth.” While there were no radical changes introduced in Budget 2019, it was replete with political slogans that one could hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party put to good use in upcoming elections.
The government, through these slogans, sought to reaffirm its stated commitment to villages, poor and farmers. It also puts special focus on women and highlighted it through catchy slogans.
1. Naari to Narayani
Sitharaman said that women went from ‘Naari to Narayani’ and to outline the government’s focus on women empowerment, Sitharaman proposed to set up a high-level committee to suggest more ways to encourage and facilitate women participation in country’s development. To boost women self-help groups, the Finance Minister announced the expansion of the interest subvention programme to all districts. Sitharaman said there was no segment where the contribution of women was not significant. Women empowerment has been a key plank of the government’s outreach to the voters ahead of elections. Be it through the construction of toilets, its push for triple talaq or harsher rules governing crime against women, the BJP has used them to market the image of a women-friendly image.
2. Har Ghar Jal
Sitharaman said that the Modi government is committed to providing drinking water to every household by 2024. She proposed a provision of safe drinking water for every citizen, adding that it is a priority of the government. She said that the government is working towards ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2024. The announcement comes at a time when large sections of the country are reeling under severe shortage of water. The government had set up a Jal Shakti ministry to deal with water resources in line with the PM’s promise in the run-up to the elections.
3. Gaon, Garib, Kisan
‘Gaon, garib, kisan’ (villages, poor and farmers) was the key focus of the government going forward, the FM said. In her speech, Sitharaman said that Modi government keeps villages, poor and farmers at the centre in every programme. She said that the government will build 1.95 crore houses under the Pradhan Mantari Awas Yojna Gramin over the next two years. She noted that the time taken to complete construction of houses under the PMAY is reduced to 114 days from 314 days in 2015-16 due to use of DBT. About rural roads, she said that Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana – Phase 3 envisaged to upgrade 1.25 lakh km of road length at an estimated cost of Rs 80,250 crore.
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4. Electricity, cooking gas to all
FM Sitharaman said that houses constructed by the government for poor will have all amenities such as LPG, electricity and toilets. She said that by 2022, every single rural family except those who are unwilling to take the connection will have electricity and a clean cooking facility. The promise of electricity, cheaper houses, toilets and gas connections are key elements that are believed to have helped Modi trump the caste matrix in states like UP and Bihar where it was up against a formidable alliance. The Congress’ promise of Rs 72,000 per year failed to cut ice with voters as ground work on promised schemes related to basic amenities for citizens paid dividends to the BJP, bringing it back to power with a bigger majority.
5. New India
Sitharaman said that the NDA government had set the ball rolling for a ‘New India’ in its first term and programmes will be accelerated and red tape reduced going forward. she said, “The recent elections were charged with brimming hope for a bright and stable India.” “Voters stamped their approval on a performing government in the elections. Modi government in the first term stood out as performing government.”
Earlier in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government’s, then Finance minister Yashwant Sinha broke the colonial era tradition of presenting the budget in the evening at 5 pm and tabled the budget at 11 am. Since then all governments have been presenting the Union Budget at 11 am. With this budget, Sithraman also becomes the first full-time woman Finance minister and second woman in the history of independent India to present the Union Budget. Before her, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the only woman to present the Union Budget. In 1970, Indira presented the Union Budget for 1970-71, after taking over the Finance portfolio following the resignation of Morarji Desai as Finance minister.