Dear reader, The highlight of the week was the Union Budget. The Opinion section had a slew of articles that dissected Nirmala Sitharaman’s second budget to reveal its hits and misses. The Indian Express editorial ('Measured steps and a leap to spend', February 2) said, “On the whole, Sitharaman’s budget holds no big surprises. To a large extent, it does good by not doing bad. The markets have heaved a sigh of relief not only because of the step-up in capital outlays, but also because of the absence of any proposals on wealth or inheritance tax or grandiose new schemes.” The editorial found “the scaling back of the disinvestment target” a glaring omission. Just about Rs 65,000 crore is expected from disinvestment this fiscal. The editorial reasoned that it could be a consequence of “protests by young people over limited public employment opportunities amid perceptions of a ‘sell-off of national assets’. The focus of the budget, according to the editorial, was on increasing public sector capital spending. “This step up in government expenditure in the form of investment as opposed to consumption is bold, and welcome… The Indian economy needs investments in roads, railways, mass transport, irrigation and waterways that will boost productivity and reduce logistics costs. Given their long gestation periods, investments in such projects can today be undertaken only by the government. These investments can, in turn, stimulate demand for steel, cement, capital goods and commercial vehicles, apart from crowding-in private investment.” Neelkanth Mishra ('The struggle to spend', February 2) wrote on the government’s push for ramping up capital expenditure. However, he cautioned that “even for governments, it is difficult to spend such large sums productively at short notice”. Mishra wrote: “Allowing state governments more fiscal space (deficits up to 3.5 per cent of GDP are allowed, with another half a per cent if the state undertakes power sector reforms), and dangling the carrot of more funding if they undertake capital expenditure is the right approach in theory. Much of the necessary investments need to occur at the state level: Like in health, education, urban infrastructure, water supply and sanitation and power distribution. However, the gap between states’ intent to spend and their execution has widened substantially during the pandemic, and their total spending is far lower than budgeted, despite increases in non-discretionary expenses like interest costs, salaries and pensions.” According to N K Singh (‘The budget’s balance’, February 3), “the budget is a commendable balancing act”. He welcomed the FM’s decision not to introduce any new taxes: “The fact that she has not resorted to tax increases normally expected during a pandemic through enhanced health cess or a pandemic tax is no mean achievement.” Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu, applauded the FM for shunning populist measures even though assembly elections are scheduled in UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa (‘Voices the budget didn’t hear', February 2). However, he singled out the different fiscal deficit targets in the budget as evidence of the Centre’s hypocrisy on policy matters — “the Union’s fiscal deficit is well above 6 per cent and projected to stay there in the coming year. The projected glide path to a 4 per cent fiscal deficit stretches to 2025-2026. Yet the Union sets the state’s fiscal deficit limit at 3.5 per cent unconditionally (about half of its own level), and at 4 per cent conditioned on power sector reforms.” The TN FM also found some of the budget proposals intruding into the domain of the states’ rights. He also found the announcement of “One Nation, One Registration” puzzling. Thiaga Rajan wrote: “Registration is a state subject under the Constitution, and most states have inadequate electronic land ownership records even now. Further the rates, concession policies, and validation protocols, all of which are crucial to both states’ revenue as well as effective control of criminal fraud, vary greatly across states. In fact, the land classification system itself varies across states. Given these circumstances, this is a case of kite-flying at best, or an extreme case of poor judgement at worst.” Among other writers, K Sujatha Rao (‘The missing focus on health’, February 2) and Shailaja Chandra (‘Not so healthy’, February 5) were sharply critical of the low allotment and lack of a holistic vision to the health sector in the budget. Ashwini Deshpande (‘The inequality drag’, February 4), flagged the absence of outreach to MSMEs etc while A R Vasavi (‘Unseeing the real problem’, February 5) wrote that the budget offered little for the rural sector. Ajai Vir Jakhar (‘The seeds not planted’, February 3) was disappointed that the budget, coming after the farmers’ protests, lacked a long-term vision for agriculture. Prabhat Patnaik (‘A budget that looks away’, February 3) offered a critique of the budget’s philosophy and found its fiscal strategy “inhumane, inegalitarian and hence anti-democratic”. He wrote: “The budget has been a gigantic non-event, blithely ignoring the economy’s travails and providing neither stimulus nor succour to the poor.” Meanwhile, electioneering has picked up in the poll-bound states. In UP, Mayawati held her first poll rally and claimed that she was not missing from the scene but was working out her party’s strategy from Lucknow (‘Now you see it’, February 4). She commands a 20 per cent vote share in UP and has a loyal base among Jatavs, the predominant Dalit community in the state. However, in this day of instant and constant political messaging over social media platforms, new allegiances and loyalties are being crafted. New, young leaders are emerging, including among the Dalits, who are willing to mobilise aggressively on the street, instead of waiting for elections to strike. The BSP, which last won office in UP in 2007, has been underperforming in every recent election. Its attempt to form tactical caste alliances, like other parties, have been trumped by the BJP’s success in crafting a Hindu vote bank around Hindutva issues. This is a make or break election for the BSP. The crass hate campaign in UP has moved from the podium to the street. Police arrested Sachin Sharma and Shubham for allegedly firing at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who has been on the campaign trail in UP. Sharma claims to be a member of the BJP and his social media profile suggests links to Sangh Parivar leaders. Calling the shooting “disturbing”, the Express editorial (‘Words and actions’, February 5) said: “It is incumbent on the BJP government and its leadership to condemn the attack on Owaisi by those who seek to invoke its name. In fact, all mainstream political parties need to unequivocally distance themselves from those who advocate bigotry and violence. As the assembly election campaigns ick up speed in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, the political class needs to remember that the vitriol that has become common on the campaign trail, if allowed to grow unchecked, has consequences.” Thank you, Amrith | 
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