Relief to corona-hit common man expected in Budget today

New Delhi

As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.

Sitharaman, who had in her first budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase that had been for decades used for carrying budget documents with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata', had earlier this month stated that the budget for the fiscal year beginning April will be "like never before". The budget, economists and experts say, will be the starting point for picking up the pieces after the economic destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And it must go beyond being just a 'bahi khata' or a ledger of accounts, as well as canning old schemes in a new bottle. It has to be a vision statement, a roadmap to get the world's fastest-growing major economy back on track. A prescient budget, which goes a long way in instilling confidence, cannot be replaced by 'mini-budgets' such as the one in September 2019 when the government cut corporate tax rate just two months after Sitharaman presented her maiden one, or the periodic announcements of economic measures that dotted 2020.

There is a larger consensus among economists that the annual GDP for FY21 will decline by 7-8 per cent, one of the weakest performances among the developing nations. The government has to play a critical role in pulling the economy out of the trough. While the pandemic is showing signs of being less virulent, a gradual progress in the vaccination programme is fuelling hope for a better future. A sustainable economic revival will need a policy catalyst. That's where this budget assumes a special relevance. The pandemic struck at a time when the economy was already caught in the grip of a growth slowdown. GDP growth touched an 11-year low of 4 per cent in 2019-20.

First part of budget session to end on Feb 13: The issue of farmers' protests is likely to dominate the Budget Session of Parliament, the first part of which will now end on February 13 instead of February 15, sources said on Sunday. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties to ensure smooth functioning of the House during the session.