FPJ-ED: Tele Mental Health Programme in Budget 2022 is the need of the hour

The 2022 budget speech started with a huge bang with Capital expenditure outlay being increased to Rs. 7.50 lakh crore which is an enormous hike from the previous year’s Rs. 5.54 lakh crore. Budget 2022 was focused on boosting capital spending to promote robust growth and revival of the economy. People are now travelling extensively all over the country due to corporate relaxations and the increase in infrastructure spending via the Gati Shakti Masterplan will surely reap benefits in the coming future if the ‘work from anywhere’ concept is continued.

The announcement of the National Tele Mental Health Programme was the need of the hour as mental health has been neglected for a long time. Online education has become a norm in the pandemic era and the government accepting it with the announcement of the formation of digital university and imparting online learning with a hope to provide educational access to every student is worth appreciating.

MSME sector has been given much-needed attention. The extension of The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) up to March 2023 and the expansion of its guarantee cover by Rs.50,000 crore will play a very crucial role for the MSMEs to make a rebound after the pandemic.

The focus on energy transition by incentivising renewable energy and the announcement of allocating Rs.19,500 crore towards domestic manufacturing of solar panels will help a great deal in tackling climate change and reducing imports. The decision to allow taxpayers to file an updated return within 2 years from the end of the assessment year is a very welcoming step in easing the ITR filing process.

When it comes to the misses of the budget I came across, the decision to tax all the cryptocurrency or digital asset transfers at a flat 30 per cent is not a welcoming move and will discourage a lot of investors to delve into the digital space. I had high hopes regarding a change in income tax rates as well as tax slabs, but to my dismay, the budget introduced no change in any of them.

No relief for salaried individuals was a big miss of the budget. As someone belonging to the middle class, there is nothing in the budget that will benefit me directly. The budget seems impressive from its macro view but it still lags when viewed from the perspective of the middle class in India.

(The author is a student and pursuing Masters in Computer Science at IIIT, Bangalore)