Opportunity lost; Budget 2018 falls short of expectations: Omkar Goswami

Was expecting some tough post-demonetisation actions to be announced against personal income tax evaders, says author

I, like many others, expected that the last full year’s Union Budget before the elections would have many heads of expenditure directed at India’s rural poor. The Budget is but an instrument of politics of the government in power, and why should it ever be otherwise? However, this is what I had thought the Budget would be: first, large expenditure growth for rural India — some revenue but much of it employment generating capital outlays; second, a significant uptick in key infrastructure spends; third, a clear road map to how the government plans to help increase the dismal