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A first look at FM Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget 2019-20 feels disappointing. Will a reading of fine print yield better benefits for women and children?
A first look at FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2019-20 feels disappointing. Will a reading of fine print yield better benefits for women and children?
Annual budget for the year 2019-20 was announced this morning by India’s new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Modi 2.0 government.
Being the first full time female Finance Minister a lot was expected from her, especially by women and agriculture sector. Have the expectations been fulfilled?
The Budget prioritizes transformation of ‘Gaon’, ‘Garib’ and ‘Kisan’. It also focuses on increasing digital transaction, connectivity through waterways and highways, infrastructure improvement in both rural and urban areas and also enhancing the overall quality of living.
The citizens had a lot of expectations from this budget by the new Modi government which has been voted back to power for a second term with a massive mandate but sadly it looks more like an extension of the interim budget announced on February 1, 2019.
The budget proposes a bank recapitisation fund of 70000 crores which may help in pumping more money in the market and thus help revive the economy. However, the FM chose not to specify a figure for fiscal deficit. Even though the govt claims to focus on rural sector yet there is hardly any substantial relief in the budget for the farmers and poor people. Also, there are no announcements for the crucial education and health sector.
The Finance Minister has promised a slew of new initiatives to mitigate the financial problems of the corporate sector, but there are no special proposals or benefits for women, senior citizens and children.
Nirmala Sitharaman, in her speech here, acknowledged that there was no segment where the contribution of women was not significant.
She also mentioned that women in India are traditionally considered to be Narayani, quoting Swami Vivekanand who wrote in a letter to Swami Ramkrishna that there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved, and that it’s not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.
She promised to focus on women empowerment, proposing to set up a high-level committee with govt and private stakeholders to evaluate and suggest more ways to increase women participation in workplaces, especially in the rural economy. But apart from this sentimental quote, the FM failed to give anything tangible for women in her maiden budget speech.
Even the lone provision of giving Mudra loan of 1 lakh is for only one women member in each self-help-group. It is a good initiative but with very limited impact.
Besides this, the increase in cess on petrol and diesel prices would have a cascading effect on the prices of daily commodities and fuel inflation. Hike in excise duty on gold is also a dampener for women who like to buy gold for weddings and festive occasions.
The budget is being touted as a budget for the next ten years and a foundation for reviving the sagging national economy, but the true impact of govt claims would be seen only after the fine print is read and realized.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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