The Union Budget for 2022-23 presented by India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has caught both the admirers and critics of the Modi government by surprise. Unlike the past budgets, there have been no major tinkering of taxes or fanciful announcements. The budget represents a process of continuity by adopting a mostly similar approach to the task of national development.

India has undergone an unprecedented health crisis due to Covid-19, which has resulted in extended lockdowns, loss of jobs for people belonging to vulnerable sections and anxiety in the minds of people all over India.

In such a situation, the Narendra Modi government encouraged the development of domestic vaccine successfully and vaccinated people at great speed -- like India has not seen before. The credit goes to the leadership of the Prime Minister for supporting the pharma companies for developing the vaccine.  

Covid challenge 

Further, considering that several people in India and even state governments do not have the resources to buy the vaccine, the Modi government ensured free supply of vaccine all over India to the vulnerable sections.

While it is now too soon to think that the Covid crisis has gone away, the ground reality is that the Central and state governments as well as millions of Indians are more confident than ever about facing this crisis, with remarkable faith in the government.

There has been no resistance to vaccination in India unlike in so many so-called developed countries. This has been possible mainly due to the type of leadership that Modi has given. 

In such a situation, many thought that the current budget would involve several new taxes and other stringent measures to raise the revenue and reduce fiscal deficit.

However, the present budget has not introduced any harsh measures but noted the positive aspects of the country’s economic trend. It has shown full faith that investors and employees and people at various levels would rise to the occasion and show positive and progressive attitude towards growth in the coming year.

There has been criticism about what some critics say is a jobless growth, whatever it may mean. 

Boosting investment

The government has responded to this by proposing massive investments in infrastructure and boosting investment and capital expenditure, which will inevitably promote employment, growth and opportunities at various levels.

There have been more positives and little  negatives in the budget, which is clearly evident from the fact that the fundamental tenets of the budget include transparency of financial statement and fiscal position and reflect the government’s confidence of meeting the challenges ahead with the inherent strength of the country.

This is a very balanced budget as it boosts spending towards growth-oriented policies that would boost manufacturing, help agri economy and infrastructure creation.

This budget is an elegant mix of short-term boost and long-term structural emphasis.

Other strengths 

There are many other aspects such as support for the electronic and electric vehicle industry and import duty reduction for certain vital chemicals like methanol and acetic acid which would pave way for the production of several derivative products, as methanol and acetic acid are strong building blocks.

The merit of the budget can be readily realized by seeing the plight of the critics who have nothing worthwhile to say against the budget but indulge in empty rhetoric to make their presence felt. 

(The writer is a Trustee, NGO Nandini Voice for the Deprived, Chennai. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com)