In an interesting development on Wednesday, Feb 1, a day when the Union Budget was presented in the Parliament, national public radio broadcaster of India All India Radio (AIR) termed the budget as a "chunavi budget" (election budget) in response to BBC Hindi's Twitter post. The post has now been deleted by AIR.
In the said post, BBC had tweeted and asked Twitterati how did they like the Budget 2023. The term 'chunavi budget' here means that the budget has been prepared keeping in mind the 2024 general assembly elections. The opposition too has claimed that the Union Budget 2023 eyes on polls.
BJP's majority and the Budget 2023
Not even a single rupee can be spent by the government without the consent of the people. Hence the requirement that a budget proposal be tabled as the Finance Bill in Parliament and be passed. As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a majority, there was no problem in getting it passed in the Lok Sabha and the Finance Bill does not need the approval of the Rajya Sabha, though the members are free to comment and critique it. However, that’s now how it works. Each member must face his or her constituency and, clearly, there has to be something to please all the voters. Besides, this is the last full budget before the national elections next year. So, there will be a tendency to be populist and extravagant.
