The interim budget of Union Government has presented another face of Modi Government. Modi has joined the mad race of squandering the funds of State exchequer to appease vote bank but in a prudent manner. Keeping in view that interim budget was for three months, he could have spent more lavishly. But he avoided it because he has to come back again. He has tried to appease the middle class in a very shrewd manner. Instead of giving straight exemption upto Rs 5 lakh he chose to give rebate under Section 87 A of the act. This would help the Government to broad base tax payers as they will have to submit income tax returns to avail of this benefit. Moreover, the relevance of Direct taxes is going to become insignificant as more emphasis is on indirect taxes.
DBT of Rs 6000 to farmers having small land holdings is a step in right direction. It is better than blanket waiver of farm loans. The critics of the government might exploit the situation by saying that it amounts to pea nuts. They must see that it is being given with a good intention. My Grand mother used to give Rs 1 in good old times. The amount might be insignificant for the Congress leaders for whom even economy class of aeroplane is cattle class but an emotional person understands such gestures. Amount of Rs 6000 might be insignificant for a Delhite but it means much to a farmer having small land holding and whose income is 2000 pm. True there will be hiccups. Government will have to build a database and seed the adhaar card with bank account. It is naive to expect that a farmer of rural area will have access to this technology. Further DBT is also prone to frauds and corruption as someone has to feed this data. I have seen such frauds after DBT also. But a step in right direction has been taken and we should welcome it.