Bhubaneswar: The first complete budget (2025-26) of the NDA 3.0 has been presented in the parliament. This is the 8th budget by the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman within the regime of one prime minister, Narendra Modi. There were four major aspects in this budget. Firstly, the adversity of the domestic facilities. Notably, though as per the economic survey 2024-25, the export of India will flourish to an inspiring level, the fact is that the current situation of export and its growth in the world is not to be trusted. So the economists suggested that the plan of action for the economic growth should be prepared based on the domestic facilities. The simple logic behind this is if the demand increases the production will increase, which will help in flourishing the economy of the country. But as per a latest published report, the growth of the domestic services have drastically reduced by 5.4 percent in three consecutive months of July – September. Which will be the sole factor that the growth rate will not come up to 6.4- 7 percent in 2024-25, rather it will come down to 6-6.5 percent. So the service expenses should be increased , so that the middle class will be left with some amount in their hands. Therefore the government has brought a slight change in the tax system in the current budget for the benefits of the middle class by making a decision that would be the need of the hour.
Secondly, another challenge was to maintain the capital expenditure intact. In fact, the economists state that the priority of the Modi government is adopting a system of growth through supply management rather than managing demand. It is seen in terms of this government that the creative sector has suffered in capital expenditure and tax rebels. So this year’s budget has brought certain changes in this system. The allocation for the capital expenditure is the same as last year’s budget, which is 11.1 lakh crores. It is stated that about 1 lakh crores is not supposed to be spent for the capital expenditure from the allotted funds this year. The reason may be the elections or lack of expenditure skills of different departments, about ten percent of the total allotted amount cannot be spent which is a matter of concern. But it is necessary to continually use the capital increase in investment to achieve the goal of becoming a top global economic super power by 2047.
The third was, everybody was critically analyzing how the government would be managing the discipline around many challenging factors. During COVID – 19 situation, the budget of 2021-22 the finance minister had set a target of reducing the dearth of finance to 4.5 percent of the total domestic production by 2025-26. The finance minister has managed to bring this to 4.8 percent by now and is targeted to further come down to 4.4 percent by 2026. As understood that the rest of the money from the capital expenditure will be used for the revenue sustenance. If the target of the government is to achieve a 4.4 percent financial shortage aim, then it would be a great achievement for the current government as well as the country. The loan GDP will be reduced from 57 percent to 56 percent as proposed.
Fourth, it was highly anticipated to observe how the government is tackling the problem of unemployment, generating livelihood and economic growth. Especially in the field of agriculture, business and services, what were the steps to be taken in the budget. In the coming budget, another new policy similar to the ‘Pradhan Mantri Dhanadhanya Krusi Yojana’ has been proposed for 100 districts with less agricultural productivity. Hopefully, the states like Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand will be benefited from this scheme. Similarly, important steps for business , growth and employment have been addressed by proposing ‘ Rashtriya Binirmana Mission’ for the small, medium and light industries. It is up to the future implementation that will decide how far these schemes satiate the growth and development of the youth and the nation as a whole.
There are many welcome steps in the current budget like the nuclear power project, agricultural production, MSME sector, safety and security of the migrant labourers, airport connectivity from big to small cities, and so on. But the question arises when it comes to the allocation with regard to the social sector. The government has implemented the new education policy. The total of six percent will be spent on education as notified. This expenditure has reached 4.4 percent in collaboration of both the center and the states. But the current budget has allocated only 1.28 lakh crores which is just 2.6 percent more than the previous year. The central government needs to give special focus on education whereas the health sector is to deal with the same issue. If the social sector is not taken care of properly the skill will not improve. So overall, this budget has given a relaxation to the middle class, brought a decent amount of financial discipline, at the same time the social sector and the capital sector should have been looked after a little more.
-OdishaAge
