India

“Not A Budget For Polls”: N Sitharaman To NDTV On Opposition’s Criticism

by aweeincm1

February 2, 2025

This is people’s budget. This is the ‘by the people, of the people, for the people budget’.
The Modi government has always recognised honest taxpayers. The aim is to provide support to the middle class.
The government has created a balance between strengthening the foundation of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and equally focusing on key sectors like health, nutrition and education through welfare schemes.
The focus has been on capital expenditure (capex) in the last few years of the Modi government, and now the government has also given a huge boost to increasing consumption.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has been increasing capex by 10-15 per cent to such an extent that the government announced a capex of Rs 11.11 lakh crore last year.
On top of that, a rise in capex by 10.23 per cent in comparison to RE (revenue expenditure) takes it to over Rs 11.21 lakh crore. That is not an ordinary thing.
Repeatedly, the public expenditure on asset building has reached such a level that 10.23 per cent growth also seems ordinary.
The Centre has introduced custom duty rationalisation to ensure the Indian economy becomes ‘aatmanirbhar’ (self-reliant).
We are looking at our own economy. We are looking to strengthen the foundation of the Indian economy, to make it a manufacturing hub.
No one can say no to AI-driven, technology-driven processes… We are developing centres to train people for AI.