-The Hindu The Union Budget 2016-17 is also the BJP’s way of trying to woo what was always a Congress constituency – rural India. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s third budget has a clear political message: aimed at creating a “feel good” sense among farmers and the rural poor with an eye to the slew of state elections due soon, it is an attempt to change the perception that this is a pro-rich...

-The Hindu Be it education, health, pensions for the socially vulnerable, distressed farmers, or MGNREGA, the 2016 Union Budget has nothing radical to offer. Appearances can be deceptive. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s emphasis on doubling farm incomes, rural development, and allocations for a battery of impressively named schemes for the social sector may give the impression that the right-wing NDA government has suddenly taken a ‘socialist’ turn. The reality, however, is otherwise. Howsoever...

-The Hindu   With an eye on the upcoming elections in different States, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has declared that he is presenting a Budget that provides “additional resources for vulnerable sections, rural areas and social and physical infrastructure”. But since aggregate expenditure in nominal terms is slated to rise by just 10.8 per cent between this financial year and the next, that seems difficult to believe. Consider, for example, the...

-Down to Earth The 2016 Budget has the right intent for the rural sector, but lacks clarity Union finance minister Arun Jaitley devoted a major part of his third budget speech to “transform India” and of the nine pillars to achieve the goal, three were on strengthening the rural sector. Altogether, the rural sector (including irrigation and agriculture) received close to Rs 200,000 crore this Budget, which makes one point clear:...

-TheWire.in Jaitley said he was making a record allocation to NREGA but the increase is a modest one in real terms and is even more suspect if one considers the backlog from previous year, particularly of delayed wages While various lobbyists did what they could to keep the finance ministry well informed about their demands, one is not so sure whether the needs of the poorest and most needy sections were articulated...