Dekho, Budget aaya!
THE FINANCE MINISTER RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THE FIRST BUDGET OF THE NEW DECADE. WE GET A FEW INDUSTRY EXPERTS AND CITY DWELLERS ON WHETHER THEY APPROVE THE BUDGET OR NOT.
It was a Saturday morning and everybody was waiting for the Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman — with her Bahi Khata — to address the nation as to what is in store with regards to the Budget 2020.
This year, Union budget centres around three key ideas; economic developments, aspirational India, and caring society. Sitharaman also announced new income tax slabs and lower rates. These income tax rates are optional and are available to those who are willing to forego some deduction and some exemptions.
Now that the budget is out, it is now time to put it to the litmus test by asking public a.k.a the aam janta and industry experts whether this budget is a pass or a fail. THE EDUCATION SIDE OF THINGS
`99,300 crore has been proposed for the education sector and ` 3000 crore for skill development. Shobhit Mathur, Dean at Rashtram School of Public Leadership, welcomes the announcement of almost `1 Lakh Crore for the education sector. He expresses, “Supporting research and innovation and increasing access to high quality and higher education should be their priorities. The government should also use the funds to set up a National Research Foundation (as suggested in the Draft New Education Policy) and should focus exclusively on improving research and innovation.” He says that in order to make higher education accessible, the government should subsidise student loans (rather than fund institutions). “This will reduce the burden on households, promote competition for quality as students are free to choose high-quality institutions for their education,” he feels.
However, Vibha Jha, a school teacher has a slightly different opinion on this, she feels that even after the allocation of such an amount, it will not make a difference as there is no data to see how much money goes and in what areas. “In all these years I have not seen any major changes, as I still see parents struggling for nursery education, for higher education. The main problem with all this is the management of data. We have no idea of where does this amount goes, where are they investing this amount, so even if there are any changes, we are not able to see that due to lack of data and results.” she adds.
We have no idea that where does this amount goes, where they are investing this amount, so even if there are any changes we are not able to see that due to lack of data and results. — VIBHA JHA, teacher This year, Union budget centres around three key ideas; economic developments, aspirational India, and caring society