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Budget 2022-23: Announcements Galore, Vision Sparse


BJP government never seem to get over with the election fever (or fear). In his two hour maiden budget speech, Karnataka CM, Basavaraj Bommai probably made a thousand announcements but fell short of setting a vision and purpose for the state of Karnataka. Businesses and industries who were expecting a roadmap for recovery from the catastrophic pandemic did not find respite. 

The lower income and middle class who faced a double edged sword of job loss and price inflation during the pandemic year had to bite a sugar coated bullet of no relief in taxes. The war crisis in Ukraine has already increased the oil prices and it will only further add to price inflation and burden of the common man. No provisions to put money back in the hands of people will cause more distress and not help economic growth.

This budget has no vision to create jobs or entrepreneurial environment for small or medium scale setups. MSMEs are the highest job providers and the worst affected lot. While running a business is hard, reviving a business closed for months is even harder. A helping hand with strategic investments and clear incentives were expected of this year's budget but failed to bring confidence among the entrepreneurs and the working class.

Wishing to partially replicate the Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi model in the space of education and healthcare is a welcome move. But will Bommai's 40% commission government be able to achieve what Arvind kejriwal's visionary education and healthcare model, that had a 40% budget allocation, could achieve in Delhi?

While allocation of 1000 crores to Mekedatu and prioritising namma Metro is an appreciable move that comes with state borrowings of 72,000 crores for the year increasing the net borrowings of Karnataka to 5.2 Lakh crores. With allocations like 100 crores to Anjanadri betta and 15 crores to Raichur university and practically nothing to help the farmers, priorities of this government seem to be skewed. 

This budget has a potential to create multiple headlines but the devil lies in the details. One more year of Karnataka wasted without a vision and roadmap for development of the state.

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