As expected the interim budget of 2019 is full of populism. With general election just months away the BJP government has announced series of sops especially targeting the middle class and farmers. PM Modi’s administration has unleashed full of populist goodies for farmers, the middle class and small-and-medium-sized businesses. Regardless of whether the government implements any of this with the election due by May, the announcements could still hurt the prospect of opposition parties. It looks advantage Modi for now but much will depend whether govt can implement these budget announcement in the next two months before the model code of conduct sets in.
For the North East region the budgetary allocation has seen 21% rise to Rs 58,166 crore. The finance minister Piyush Goyal also announced that government will introduce container cargo movement in the region by improving the navigation capacity of the Brahmaputra River. This is a good move. Brahmaputra River has massive potential for the cargo movement. It flows through heart of the region. Especially Arunachal Pradesh stands to gain as most of the rivers of state are tributaries of Brahmaputra. The interim budget presented today is likely to boost the government’s popularity ahead of polls. It has given huge advantage to ruling BJP. But in politics things can change very quickly.