The Indian Ministry of Finance has come up with the fiscal Budget for 2023. And let’s be honest, we need someone to make some sense out of those numbers. Nirmala Sitharaman, our minister of finance has managed to craft a budget that has spoken to the real hamsters of the Indian hamster wheel - The Middle Class.
This article is not going to give you an analysis of the 2023 Budget or bore you with so many numbers that you start to say in Lord Puneet’s golden words - “To mein kya karun, isse mera kya faayada” but rather tell you why you should care about this one.
What did Budget 2023 do for you?
The budget for 2023 has realized that India is running on Youth and Middle Class. And their plans depict that in their budget. From Tourism to AI and Feminism to Tax Deduction this budget came like a breeze for the burning and sweating middle class.
A Digital Shift?
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be introduced to train tens of thousands of young people in modern skills for Industry 4.0, including coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills. Half the world learns computer coding from Indian YouTubers. Can this be the digital shift that India needed for so long?
Tourism Industry
To accomplish the goals of the "Dekho Apna Desh" initiative, sector-specific skilling and entrepreneurship development will be integrated. This means that you can see real good employment in the Tourism industry and it may reduce our unemployment rate.
(Image by India Today via https://www.indiatoday.in/)
Feminism in Indian Budget
Indian Budget for 2023 showed a feminist side. Besides other boring yet significant changes, according to data from the gender budget document, 5% of the total budget is devoted to issues that affect women. This is more than the 4.3% allotted the year before, according to budget forecasts.
In numbers, it is around 2.25 lakh crores. But it was still disappointing that no one talked about workplace discrimination and the wage gap that women face.
Tax Relief *sigh*
In the new tax system, the Personal Income Tax Rebate Limit will rise from the present Rs. 5 lakhs to Rs. 7 lakhs. People in the new tax system who earn up to Rs. 7 lakhs do not have to pay any taxes. There has also been a reduction in maximum income tax payments.
This means that a shift in tax reforms is coming.
Why should you care about all this?
Have you seen how your parents watch Budget without batting an eye? You see how much they are invested in the whole process? That is going to be you once you start earning. This is because you will have your own budget then. The reason why you need to care about the budget is that it affects your own budget, life choices, daily transactions, and your existence.
A digital shift means you can see India becoming more digitally developed soon. Digital Marketing is going to be huge considering the Indian market is the biggest market now - population-wise. You will see more jobs emerging in this sector. Having huge investment in the Tourism sector creates more jobs for you.
This means that you can get a job in the tourism industry. This also means that if nothing works out, and you just want to travel to India and write a blog about it, people might not call you unemployed. By the time Gen z becomes heads they might see lesser taxes than this as well.
A feminist shift means you can see more feminist bills in the parliament soon. People might start calling me stupid if I say I don’t care about Budget anymore.
The Propensity of Change
The truth is a majority of youth do not care about the budget. People say “what has that got to do with me?” or “this is all political agenda” and they are very wrong. It has everything to do with us. The propensity or probability of bringing a change in the budget increases when you start caring about it. But what does it mean?
It means that once you start understanding that today’s trends in Budget are going to affect your tomorrow you start to pay heed to them. If you want to bring change it is of utmost importance that you engage with it. You start to understand what is it that needs changing. The propensity of a budget that has a section for the LGBTQIA+ community in India is very low because we do not care about it.
Not until youth takes away the deciding power from the hands of a few powerful orthodox people, you will not see a budget good enough that everyone cares about it. This is a viscous cycle of having a budget you can not relate to, not caring about it, stopping to engage with it, and repeating the same.
Finally,
Budget 2023 was great. There is no denying that. You might not care about the budget but after a long time, Budget 2023 showed that it cares about the citizens of India. But can it be better? Certainly. And that is where your involvement comes in. Revolution comes in; and so does politics.
This is your time to care about the budget and try to bring the change you want to see in it. So, by the time you become your parents and start caring about it so much you get to see a budget that makes you happy. So the next time the boy in the playground tells you that you don’t need to care about Budget, you stop playing with him because he does not know what he's talking about.