A government built on cows, cow dung, and cow urine couldn’t have done anything more than this. Last year’s budget was touted as the engine of development, but it turned out that the engine was completely broken; there was no question of it moving forward. This time too, they are trying to run the engine by simply inflating the tires without fixing the punctures, and the outcome will be the same as with last year’s budget. The issue is with the Modi government’s pro-corporate policies, which they are claiming will change the fate of the common people without actually changing them. The reality is that our country’s resources and workforce are being sacrificed in the fire of corporate development.
The previous budget was worth 50.65 lakh crore rupees. This budget, while offering the public the lure of supposed welfare schemes, claimed to be the one that would lift the common people out of the quagmire of hunger, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, homelessness, and unemployment. Eighteen schemes of the Modi government were presented as the drivers of this development, including prominent programs such as the National AYUSH Mission, PM SHRI, PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, PM Awas Yojana – Urban, PM Awas Yojana – Rural, PM Awas Yojana – Urban 2.0, Urban Challenge Fund, Jal Jeevan Mission, PM Gram Sadak Yojana, PM Internship Scheme, Research and Innovation, and the India AI Mission.
The 12 schemes mentioned above were allocated a total of ₹2.23 lakh crore in the previous budget, which was only 0.44 percent of the total budget. Even then, questions were raised about the adequacy of the budget allocated to these schemes. It has become a habit of the government to label those who raise such questions as anti-national and anti-development. But the budget presented yesterday shows that all these development schemes have collapsed and are lying in ruins, because even this insufficient budget allocation was not fully utilized. Out of the allocated ₹2.23 lakh crore, only ₹81,350 crore was spent, which is only 36.49 percent of the total allocation and a mere 0.16 percent of the total budget. It is clear that the 140 crore people of this country have been left to their own devices when it comes to health, education, housing, employment, and other essential services. It seems that we can only achieve the status of a world leader by becoming a junkyard of ignorance and misery.
This has been happening for the past 11 years. The budget amount keeps increasing, while the expenditure on public welfare continues to decrease. This year’s budget allocates only ₹2.12 lakh crore collectively to these 12 schemes, which is even less than the amount allocated last year, despite the overall budget size increasing to over ₹53.47 lakh crore. Even considering a 5 percent inflation rate, the real budget allocation amounts to only 0.37 percent of the total budget. Past experience shows that even though ₹2.12 lakh crore has been allocated for these schemes, the actual expenditure will not exceed ₹77,000 crore. Therefore, it doesn’t matter how large an amount is allocated in the budget for public welfare schemes, because the government’s deliberate policy is not to spend it.
For the past 20 years, MGNREGA has been a lifeline for rural India, proving its immense value during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributing to increased agricultural growth even amidst the global crisis. This demand-driven scheme has now been scrapped and replaced by Gram-G (or G-Ram-G, in the Modi government’s terminology), which is an allocation-based scheme. While MGNREGA aimed to provide employment to rural people, Gram-G aims to establish a rural network for a developed (corporate) India. An allocation of ₹95,692 crore has been made for this, roughly equivalent to the amount spent on MGNREGA last year. However, this amount will not be spent unless state governments contribute their share of ₹63,695 crore for its implementation. Given the way the Modi government has seized control of the states’ financial resources and assets, this contribution from the states is highly uncertain, and therefore, the entire allocation is unlikely to be utilized.
States have received ₹2,03,801 crore less than the budget allocation this current financial year under centrally sponsored schemes, Finance Commission grants, and other transfers. Despite this massive cut, the budget for 2026-27 shows a further reduction of ₹59,456 crore compared to the 2025-26 budget estimates. Even after siphoning off funds meant for the states, the burden is being placed on them to contribute 40 percent to central schemes like MGNREGA. Clearly, if state governments contribute to central schemes, they will have to make drastic cuts to their own schemes aimed at fulfilling the aspirations of their people. In fact, the social development schemes run by various state governments are the backbone of the country’s development, as the central government’s per capita contribution to social welfare has decreased over the past decade, while the states’ contribution has been significantly higher. Therefore, this approach of the Modi government at the center is not only against healthy center-state relations but also against the federal spirit of the Constitution. By crushing the rights of the states and their development cycle, the BJP may be able to pursue its petty politics, but it cannot accelerate the overall development of the country.
The rosy picture of the country presented in the Economic Survey collapses in the budget, as revenue collections are not increasing due to the tax concessions given to corporations and the wealthy. Tax revenue for the current financial year is estimated at ₹26.74 lakh crore, which is significantly lower than the budget estimate. Even in 2026-27, only ₹28.67 lakh crore in tax revenue is projected, which is merely ₹30,000 crore more than this year’s budget estimate. A large portion of this revenue will also come from taxes on oil. This means that revenue as a proportion of national income is declining sharply, as it is no longer possible to extract more from the common people.
If the target of keeping the fiscal deficit low, a key condition imposed by imperialist agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, is being met despite weak revenue collections, it can only be achieved by cutting spending on public welfare schemes and attacking the living standards of the common people. This is what was done in the budgets of previous years, and this is what has been done in this year’s budget as well. Therefore, the low fiscal deficit should not be praised, as it indicates that this target is being achieved by stifling economic growth.
Last year’s budget offered significant income tax relief to the middle class, with the expectation that the resulting savings would stimulate the domestic economy, create jobs, and offset the revenue lost due to the tax cuts. However, this year’s budget is conspicuously silent on the results of those measures, as the initial hopes have turned into disappointment. If the domestic market had expanded, new industries would have emerged, and investment would have increased. This did not happen because the middle class spent their savings on imported consumer goods. This raises the fundamental question: in whose hands should the money be placed – the 95 percent of working people or the 5 percent of wealthy elites? To expand the domestic economy, the minimum wage for unorganized sector workers must be increased, regular recruitment must be carried out for vacant positions, contract labor must be abolished, farmers must be given remunerative prices for their crops based on the Swaminathan formula, and agricultural laborers and rural residents must be provided with employment and higher wages under MGNREGA. But the budget contains none of these provisions, because all of this goes against corporate interests.
The essence of the comments made by the government, its officials, and spokespersons regarding this budget is as follows : Corporates will now be the driving force of development, they will create jobs, and they will ensure the quality of services. Therefore, obstacles in the path of the business world will be removed, allowing them to move forward unimpeded. The government will only play a guiding role, reducing the debt burden and the fiscal deficit.
For the common people, this means : the government will sit idly by and pave the way for corporate plunder through privatization and disinvestment. After the labour codes that enslave workers, the bulldozer of agricultural laws will once again be unleashed on farmers. All welfare spending will be cut to waive corporate debts and grant them tax breaks. This budget announces the elimination of food and fertilizer subsidies over the next five years. Voices raised against these policies will be brutally suppressed, and communalism will be used to divide the people.
(The author is the Vice President of the Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha, affiliated with the All India Kisan Sabha)
