Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled her budget at a time when there is worldwide economic turbulence post steep tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Every country's economy is under pressure, but Indian economy is stable. It is now the world's fourth largest economy. Our GDP growth rate is among the highest across the world.
The challenges before the Finance Minister is how to speed up the 'Reforms Express' to make India the third largest economy of the world.
Most of the people on Sunday could not understand the nuances of the budget. After Sitharaman's budget speech, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, this budget is meant for only five per cent of Indians, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, the budget has nothing for welfare of SC, ST and OBC, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee said, the Finance Minister did not name West Bengal even once in her speech, while West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said the budget is worthless.
These were the traditional type of remarks one hears every year after the budget is presented. The government says that the budget introduced this year is not traditional.
Earlier, when budget used to be introduced, there used to be talk about Income Tax slabs, about goods that will become costlier or cheaper, about which state getting new projects, about new trains that will be introduced, and also about which ministry got how much funds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed this thinking on its head. The budget unveiled on Sunday is a clear blueprint about his government's policies and outlook.
The government wants dependence on other countries for important goods must end, the nation must manufacture its own weapons and fighter jets, semi-conductors and microchips, rare earth metals, and stamp its dominance in AI data centers sector.
Trump's tariffs have brought a fundamental change in world order. For the demand for Indian products to increase, manufacturing sector needs a boost, supply chains will have to put in order and a massive outlay on infrastructure must be made.
That is why Nirmala Sitharaman made several announcements relating to high speed rail, waterways, road infrastructure, semi-conductor hub, rare earth material hub, textile hubs and industrial corridors for several cities.
The government says this year's budget outlines the will to achieve the goals of Atmanibhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat. Care has been taken about the interests of weaker sections, women, youths, traders and farmers in the budget. The budget will give a boost to employment and India will strive towards becoming the world's third largest economy.
First a look at the budget. The government's focus is mainly on infrastructure. Seven high-speed rail corridors will be built. Five of them will connect Maharashtra with South India, while the other two corridors will be in North India. Twenty new waterways will be launched. Varansi, Patna and Guwahati will have hubs for repair of waterway ships.
For production and transportation of rare earth metals, special hubs will be set up in four states. This will reduce our dependence on China and the United States. Remember, a few months ago China had stopped export of several essential rare earth minerals bringing our semi-conductor projects to a standstill.
To boost manufacturing, industrial hubs will be created in tier-1 and tier-2 cities with population more than five lakhs. Rs 12.2 lakh crore has been earmarked towards this.
To give a boost to orange economy, content creator labs will be set up in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges. Orange economy relates to graphics, animation, gaming type services.
A 15 per cent hike in defence budget has been earmarked with a jump of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 7.85 lakh crore. Most of the funds will be spent on modernisation of the three services.
Narendra Modi has this knack of converting 'crisis into opportunity'. This is clear from this year's budget. Remember, during the Covid epidemic, Modi realised how we were dependent on foreign countries from even PPE kits to vaccines?
Modi decided to introduce a fundamental change in budgeting. Donald Trump imposed heavy tariffs on India, China flexed its powers in international trade and several lessons were learnt during Operation Sindoor. The path is now clear: India has to become completely self-reliant.
For how long should we be using containers made in China? If China can become a big power in rare earth metals, why not India? For how long should we depend on the US for exporting our marine products, textile, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery and automobiles? For how long should we be dependent on others in the field of artificial intelligence and semi-conductors?
Last year, we changed our overall defence strategy after learning from Operation Sindoor. India has now decided to become self-reliant in the field of manufacturing of drones and UAVs. This will make our Indian Air Force stronger.
Overall, the path towards becoming the world's third largest economy beckons us.
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