A myopic and short-term view of the Union Budget looks at it from the point of view of ‘what’s in it for me?’ By that, one usually means taxation. The non-myopic, medium-term view is to consider what the Union government can do to trigger structural change. Election year, last budget of this government, populist budget — these are meaningless labels. This budget doesn’t mark any discontinuity with the policies followed by this government since 2014. By ’populist’, one presumably means profligate. This budget is anything but that. According to the dictionary, ‘populist’ is something that represents the interests of ordinary people. This budget is certainly that, which is why it won’t be popular with those rooting for substantial tax cuts.

A myopic and short-term view of the Union Budget looks at it from the point of view of ‘what’s in it for me?’ By that, one usually means taxation. The non-myopic, medium-term view is to consider what the Union government can do to trigger structural change. Election year, last budget of this government, populist budget — these are meaningless labels. This budget doesn’t mark any discontinuity with the policies followed by this government since 2014. By ’populist’, one presumably means profligate. This budget is anything but that. According to the dictionary, ‘populist’ is something that represents the interests of ordinary people. This budget is certainly that, which is why it won’t be popular with those rooting for substantial tax cuts.