Budget For All

This year’s Union General Budget is a coalition budget per se. True to the spirit of coalition politics where diversified bits and pieces are held together in a fluid bond, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget tries to please all, which is actually what the nation wants. But, as is often the case with such attempts, he fails to live up to the ideal expectations of the Indian citizens. But still, while the price-cut for food items is welcome the price-hike in edible oils will ensure that the furrows in foreheads of the middle-class remain deep. Cheaper computer hardwares like DVD, flash and combo drives are supposed to further increase the computer sales in the country. But packaged softwares getting dearer can very well add fillip to software piracy, which, as of now, is nothing sort of a menace for the country’s economy. One wonders at the feasibility of buying cars at cheaper rates when the Golden Quadrilateral is biting dust at places and when city roads continue to resemble the moon surface when rains are heavy.