Modi Budget 2.0: Tax reforms to trade war, experts on New India's new blueprint

While the verdict is still out on the Union Budget 2019, experts say that the tall claims made by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must be looked into. Moderated by veteran journalist Gautam Chikarmane, the third session of News Nations’ Modi Budget 2.0 summit saw host of experts dissecting the first Union Budget of the second term of Modi Government. The experts included MK Venu, Sachin Chaturvedi and NC Saxena. Chaturvedi said that infrastructure is expanding in the country, this shows governments commitment towards development. BJP's spokesperson Zafar Islam said that the government delivered in the last five years, we will continue the development work.

Attacking the Modi government, Saxena said that, “rate of growth of bottom 50 per cent need to be looked into. There’s a need to increase number of doctors and nurses in rural areas. Agrarian distress needs our immediate attention. Total number of jobs have gone down. Section of society jobless. Women empowerment overlooked this budget,” Saxena added.

“There should be a disciplined growth. Macro-economic stability must for development, Chaturvedi said. He added that ‘Modi Budget 2.0 was interesting’. Venu hit out at Sitharaman and said that, “growth missing out in this Budget. Macro economic stabilisition missing out this budget. GST needs intervention. Proper taxation needs to be in place.” BJP’s Zafar Islam lauded the Budget and said that, “Policy direction was changed this Budget promising growth for everyone.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, hailing the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it is "one of hope" that will boost India's development in the 21st century and empower the downtrodden, but the Congress slammed it as "insipid" and accused the government of not paying any heed to common citizens or economists before preparing it. While the Modi government's first budget after it assumed power for a second term had the ruling BJP-led NDA members heaping praise on it, opposition parties, including the left parties remained unimpressed. Echoing Modi's sentiments, BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also dubbed the budget as "futuristic", and said it reflected the Prime Minister's vision where farmers prosper, the poor leads a life of dignity, the middle class gets its due and Indian enterprise is boosted.