A Budget focusing on minimum govt and maximum governance

The Finance Minister did give everyone something, in his ‘nine pillars of focus’ Jasleen Kaur and Aadhira Anandh | The Dollar Business Bureau

Harshvardhan Neotia

“There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war...This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.” Benjamin Franklin This Union Budget echoed Franklin’s thoughts by focusing on agriculture largely to ensure long term sustainability. The Finance Minister did give everyone something, in his ‘nine pillars of focus’. By laying stress on a pro-poor Budget with a total allocation of Rs.35,984 crore and Rs.87,765 crore for rural development, it stands as proof of the transformative agenda of the government. FICCI President, Harshavardhan Neotia, said “It is a budget that puts in place key areas for fostering higher growth. The focus had been brought to the forefront and the budget proposal will have a positive impact on the lives and livelihood of some of the vulnerable sections of our society.” In the rural areas, we see the government intensifying the ways to allocate funds under MGNREGS and connecting it with asset creation to find a solution to the rural and farm anguish. Jaitley’s measures included creating a dedicated long-term irrigation fund in the NABARD setting aside a corpus fund of about Rs.20,000 crore and increasing the agricultural credit target to Rs.9 crore for the next fiscal against last year’s target of Rs.8.5 lakh crore allocated in the previous budget. And in order to finance the initiatives taken to better the agriculture sector, the ‘Krishi Kalyan Cess’ of 0.5% has been proposed on all taxable services. This cess will come into force from June 1^st. The Swacch Bharat mission and the Digital Literacy Mission Scheme for rural India will help strengthen the economy on a larger scale. On the lines of social security net, the government has announced the introduction of new health protection schemes with additional coverage schemes for senior citizens. He added, “The budget has laid down the nuts and bolts to further the implementation of different schemes that has been planned by the government. The idea of minimum government and maximum governance has been re-emphasised by enhancing the ease of doing business.” Another area where the outlays have been enhanced is infrastructure, particularly in roads and highways. With private investments on the side-lines, public expenditure is the key to keep the growth momentum going. However, there are few points in the budget where there needs to be clarification. Additionally, the three new initiatives announced for improving the operating framework for PPPs and offering flexibility for review of the contracts under disputes would also see better results. “We do understand that the current realities of the nation have called for certain realities and the budget has fairly addressed them. The thrust layer on agriculture and infrastructure is commendable. This would see dividends,” Neotia, said. There is a reduction in the rate of interest for delayed payments from 18% (24% and 30% for service tax) to 15%. There is a need to rationalize the rate of interest for delayed disbursal of refunds for indirect taxes just as it has been done in case of direct taxes. To sum up the pro-poor stance taken by the Govt. in the words of the father of the Green Revolution, Swaminathan, "Giving an income orientation to farming is probably the most significant announcement made by the finance minister" is best suited now.

March 02, 2016 | 05:40pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Mar 02, 2016 11:59 IST

A Budget focusing on minimum govt and maximum governance

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