Budget 2019 Highlights: Populist push in Interim Budget before LS polls, Opposition says it has no value

Background

Budget 2019 Highlights: Reaching out to a large electorate ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the government Friday announced a cash dole for small farmers, a mega pension scheme for the unorganised sector and doubled the threshold tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the interim Budget for the 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha. He doled out tax sops to middle class, including raising standard deduction to Rs 50,000, and provided concessions on interest income from bank deposits and rent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the interim budget touches all sections of the society and includes everyone, asserting that it is a merely a "trailer" of what will guide India towards prosperity after the Lok Sabha polls. In his remarks after the interim budget was presented in Parliament, Modi said it empowers people and referred to a host of budgetary announcements and schemes to drive home his point.

However, the Congress dubbed the budget as the BJP's "jumlebaz (filled with gimmicks) manifesto" for the polls, while the NCP termed it as a "lollipop". Attacking the government for not announcing farm loan waiver, the opposition parties alleged that since it had not offered anything to the people in its previous budgets, it has now made populist announcements to assuage prevailing dissent among the public.

17:51 PM (IST)  •  01 Feb 2019

Railway Budget at a Glance

17:41 PM (IST)  •  01 Feb 2019

The Congress dubbed the budget as the BJP's "jumlebaz (filled with gimmicks) manifesto" for the polls, while the NCP termed it as a "lollipop".
Attacking the government for not announcing farm loan waiver, the opposition parties alleged that since it had not offered anything to the people in its previous budgets, it has now made populist announcements to assuage prevailing dissent among the public.

17:39 PM (IST)  •  01 Feb 2019

BJP president Amit Shah Friday hailed the interim budget for "benefiting" all sections of the society and asserted that it has underscored the Modi government's dedication to the aspirations of the country's youth, farmers and the poor.
The budget touches everybody, will spur growth and generate employment, he told reporters and also praised the government for "maintaining" fiscal discipline. "This budget gives relief to every section of society in some way," he said, referring to its announcements and schemes for farmers, unorganised sector workers and income tax payers.
With its sops for farmers and the middle class- two crucial voting blocs- among others, the BJP believes that the budget will it woo them ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
The perceived farm crisis is said to be a key reason for the saffron party's defeat in the state elections where it also suffered reverses in urban centres.
Shah dubbed the raising of income tax exemption to Rs 5 lakh as "historic", saying the Modi government has surpassed the expectation of the middle class by announcing a number of concessions for it.
The decision to provide Rs 6000 annually to farmers will be a "milestone" towards meeting the government's goal of doubling their income by 2022, he said, adding that a loan waiver helps peasants only once and merely those who take loans while this scheme will benefit all of them and every year.

17:38 PM (IST)  •  01 Feb 2019

Defence budget pegged at Rs 3.05 lakh crore - An outlay of Rs 3.05 lakh crore was Friday set aside for the defence budget for 2019-20 which was a hike of around Rs 20,000 crore compared to allocation of Rs 2.85 lakh crore in the current fiscal.

17:38 PM (IST)  •  01 Feb 2019

Making a big populist push in its final budget before elections, the Narendra Modi-government Friday exempted people with an earning of up to Rs 5 lakh from payment of income tax, announced an annual cash dole-out of Rs 6,000 to small farmers and provided a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to workers in the unorganised sector.