With the social sector being neglected in this year’s Budget as well, a revival of the economy is a far cry. The core sectors of education, healthcare, nutrition and rural employment are being ignored in Budgets year after year to such an extent that it can now be said beyond a reasonable doubt the government functions not for the vast majority of the population but for a select few in the corporate sector. The emptiness of the marathon Budget speech was tangible. The people of the great country are suffering due to lack of sufficient economic vision and, in the meantime, the ruling party is subjecting them to worthless exercises like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
G.B. Sivanandam,
Coimbatore
The Budget allocations for MGNREGA and other social sector schemes indicate that the government is still in denial about the fact that the falling consumption demand in rural areas is one of the serious problems facing the economy. While demonetisation had almost crippled the rural economy, the inadequate or meagre budgetary allocations for the social sector schemes that directly impact the lives of the rural masses in the subsequent years have made things worse. The Finance Minister’s claim that the Budget is for “building a caring society” is not borne out by the budgetary allocations. There has been a clamour from many economists of repute to implement measures to improve the incomes of the rural masses to boost the consumption demand. But, inexplicably, the Finance Minister has ignored this sagacious advice. Further, the increase in allocations for the crucial sectors such as health and education would be inadequate to bring about even marginal improvements in the healthcare and educational facilities, the shortage of which has been the bane of rural India.
Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
