It is easy to guess the kind of budget presented by a government which has just three and a half month left to complete its term. It will contain a bag of all tricks to lure the people, especially when its continuation in power is doubtful.

As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is in America for treatment, it was Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who was lucky enough to get applauds by presenting the budget.

The finance minister seems to have tried his level best to make the budget people-friendly. The finance minister has included a number of recommendations so as to benefit the low and middle class people in society. Many small tricks to attract farmers, labours in unorganised sectors, salaried class and the poor can be seen in the budget.

It is the weakness of any government, who is at the fag end of its tenure, to show excessive empathy towards people.
Raising the income exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh/per annum from Rs 2.5 lakh per annum is a blessing showered by Modi on middle class people. Adding other concessions, the limit will come up to Rs 7 lakh. Similarly in post office deposits also, the tax exemption limit has been raised to Rs 40000 and this will benefit lakhs of depositors.

By increasing the gratuity limit to Rs 30 lakh, employees in organised sector and salaried class will get good benefits. The taxable limit on income from rents has also been raised to Rs 2.4 lakh. Though the Opposition has alleged that doubling income tax concession limits was aimed at vote bank, this is a great relief for tax payers.

Another speciality of the budget is a big pension scheme for house maids, drivers and self-employed. Under this scheme the beneficiaries can pay premium of Rs 100 per month and get a pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60. The government believes that 10 crore will get the benefit from this and the scheme will turn into world’s biggest pension scheme.

The budget is also farmer-friendly. Pradhanmantri Kisan Yojana is aimed at farmers, and according to the scheme famers with land below two hectors will get Rs 6000 pension per anum. There are also other provocations like Kisan Credit Card. The government has set apart Rs 11.68 core for this.

Kamadhenu Ayog scheme is evidence for Modi’s much-criticised cow love. Shelters will be begun for abandoned cows and bank loans will be given for buying cows. Other help schemes will also come up in North Indian states for cow caring.

However, the budget which says that by 2022, the dream of new India will be materialises, hides many things as usual. Nothing is said about mobilisation of resources required for disbursing the benefits guaranteed in the budget.

There is also no information to prove the claim that the government has been able to rein in inflation and money deficit. This time there was also no financial survey report, which is usually tabled in Parliament before presenting the budget.

The share for the defence force has been risen to Rs 3 lakh core. When Rs 60000 crore was set apart for Employment Guarantee scheme, Rs 2.5 crore was earmarked for public sector banks. This is a thing to celebrate for banks that have incurred a loss of Rs 10 lakh crore from defaulted loan repayments. The budget share for Railways is Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

If the instructions in the interim budget has to materialise, the same government should come back to power. And this is not as easy as presenting an embellished budget. Forgetting people and their needs is a general behaviour of governments once they come to power. They think about people only when an election is round the corner.

The current Modi government’s last budget will have only a virtual existence. It is the next government that will have to come before the people with a comprehensive budget.