The Union budget 2021 – Flattering to deceive

The Union budget is an Annual Financial Statement where the government of the day is expected to inform the Parliament of what it would spend its money on during the next year. This must be done diligently and responsibly, as with any financial matter of any scale. The country’s budget is huge, we will spend nearly 35 lakh crores next year and therefore it is expected that the FM would make clear announcements on what she plans for the country next year. Based on her outlays, we can then see where the focus of growth and development would be. It is important for all of us to understand not only the various expenditure heads, but also the revenue mobilisation that will bring in the money required to fund the outlays. The various allocations also indicate the direction in which the country is headed.

As the FM spoke, it was clear that she was giving great deal of attention to the health sector, and rightly so. It has been a bad year for all of us, during which we have seen large number of patients die waiting for hospital beds, ICUs and Oxygen cylinders. It was along expected lines therefore that the FM speaks of health being her biggest responsibility. She also announced a figure of 2.4 lakh crores for the health sector, which was unprecedented. However, when we look at the details, we find that the figure is less than half of that. At a time when the healthcare sector needed a huge hike in expenditure, the FM decided to ignore the demands.

Read more : https://www.siasat.com/the-union-budget-2021-flattering-to-deceive-2086556/