<b>Omkar Goswami</b>: I've got to admit it's getting better

Total allocation for agriculture and the rural sectors in 2017-18 is Rs187,223 crore

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s first full-fledged Budget in 2015 was awful. Not because he was severely unwell; but because it was a rubbish Budget, cobbling up paragraphs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto, offering dribs and drabs to each item — bereft of direction or intent. His second in 2016 was better, but still with enough shortcomings for experts to be somewhat critical. This, the fourth, was his best yet, and probably the best it will be as his fourth will most likely be a politically populist election Budget. As the Beatles would groove, ‘I’ve got to admit it’s