The Finance Minister of the Union of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, on 23rd July, implemented a range of measures to rescue the unemployed youth, small businesses and middle class and tried to reinforce the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s support for various investment projects in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. This budget is Ms. Sitharaman’s seventh straight Budget and this is the first Budget by BJP-led NDA government after being re-elected in June.
The budget was praised by allies of BJP while the Opposition criticized it for being designed to appease Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party which are the two main allies of BJP rather than addressing issues such as high unemployment rate or high inflation rates. They also maintained that states ruled by non-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments have been overlooked. Today there will be a protest against this Budget by members from INDIA alliance.
On Tuesday, the union Ministers including Ashwini Vaishnaw, G Kishan Reddy, Rao Inderjit Singh, Dr Jitendra Singh and Shripad Naik are expected to table their papers before Lok Sabha. The house is also likely to discuss Union Budget and J&K’s UT Budget 2024-25 today.