Editor's Pick | Poll-ready: Finance Minister presents interim budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting her sixth Union Budget and her first interim Budget to a joint parliamentary session on Thursday, resisted the temptation to hand out dramatic pre-poll sops, in a 56-minute speech, her shortest one yet. While broadly sticking to her assurance that this 2024-25 Budget would be a “vote on account”, without “spectacular announcements”, Ms. Sitharaman outlined how the NDA government, with a “nation-first” approach, had enabled the transition to a virtually perfect present. She also promised a White Paper in the House on the mess allegedly inherited by the Narendra Modi government and the economy’s subsequent resurgence to a path of sustainable, high growth. Though there were no tax breaks, some immediate new promises were made, including a scheme to enable the “deserving” urban middle class to buy or build their own homes, two crore more rural houses to be built in the next five years, and 300 units of free power a month for one crore households through rooftop solar solutions, as mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Ram Mandir’s consecration last month. At the full Budget in July, the government plans to present a detailed roadmap for its vision of a developed India by 2047, she said, enunciating some guiding principles that will drive its approach. A plausible poll signal was the constitution of a high-powered panel to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”, although she parried queries on the intent of this move in her post-Budget press conference. Zeroing on the four major castes identified by the PM – the poor, women, youth, and farmers — she said they would receive primacy in policy. Moreover, the FM not only revised the deficit estimate for this year to 5.8% of GDP, but also committed to hit the 5.1% mark in 2024-25. Capital expenditure plans for the coming year got a modest but assured 11.1% increase, rising to an ostensbily auspicious number of ₹11,11,111 crore, and interest-free capex loans to States were raised to ₹1.3 lakh crore. Yet, gross and net borrowings planned in 2024-25 have been lowered from this year’s levels to ₹14.13 lakh crore and ₹11.75 lakh crore, respectively. The Hindu’s Editorials Poll posture: On the 2024 Interim Budget Change in Jharkhand: On political leaders under the ED’s scanner The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Which court has allowed Hindu prayers to be offered inside the Vyas Ka Tekhana (sealed basement area) of the Gyanvapi mosque complex? Bombay HC Allahabad HC Delhi HC Varanasi District Court To know the answer and to play the full quiz, click here. [logo] Editor's Pick 02 February 2024 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Poll-ready: Finance Minister presents interim budget Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting her sixth [Union Budget]( and her first interim Budget to a joint parliamentary session on Thursday, resisted the temptation to hand out dramatic pre-poll sops, in a 56-minute speech, her shortest one yet. While broadly sticking to her assurance that this 2024-25 Budget would be a “vote on account”, without “spectacular announcements”, Ms. Sitharaman outlined how the NDA government, with a “nation-first” approach, had enabled the transition to a virtually perfect present. She also promised a White Paper in the House on the mess allegedly inherited by the Narendra Modi government and the economy’s subsequent resurgence to a path of sustainable, high growth. Though there were [no tax breaks]( some immediate new promises were made, including a scheme to enable the “deserving” urban middle class to buy or build their own homes, two crore more rural houses to be built in the next five years, and 300 units of free power a month for one crore households through rooftop solar solutions, as mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Ram Mandir’s consecration last month. At the full Budget in July, the government plans to present a detailed [roadmap]( for its vision of a developed India by 2047, she said, enunciating some guiding principles that will drive its approach. A plausible poll signal was the constitution of a high-powered panel to consider the challenges arising from “fast population growth and demographic changes”, although she parried queries on the intent of this move in her post-Budget press conference. Zeroing on the four major castes identified by the PM – the poor, women, youth, and farmers — she said they would receive primacy in policy. Moreover, the FM not only revised the deficit estimate for this year to 5.8% of GDP, but also committed to hit the 5.1% mark in 2024-25. Capital expenditure plans for the coming year got a modest but assured 11.1% increase, rising to an ostensbily auspicious number of ₹11,11,111 crore, and interest-free capex loans to States were raised to ₹1.3 lakh crore. Yet, gross and net borrowings planned in 2024-25 have been lowered from this year’s levels to ₹14.13 lakh crore and ₹11.75 lakh crore, respectively. The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Poll posture: On the 2024 Interim Budget]( [Arrow][Change in Jharkhand: On political leaders under the ED’s scannerÂ]( The Hindu’s Daily News Quiz Which court has allowed Hindu prayers to be offered inside the Vyas Ka Tekhana (sealed basement area) of the Gyanvapi mosque complex? - Bombay HC - Allahabad HC - Delhi HC - Varanasi District Court To know the answer and to play the full quiz, [click here](. 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