<b>Shekhar Gupta</b>:Caught in a political trap

The trajectory of political economy post-2014 is evident in the three Budgets by this government

Budget 2017-18 reaffirms our evolving understanding of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah style of governance, which is pure politics, with economics no more than garnish. They came to power in 2014 promising reform, growth, jobs, minimum government.

Well in their third year now, none of the first three has been realised. And the fourth, has moved in the opposite direction. There is an expansion in the size of the government. Government and its directorates and regulators, public sector units, new state-owned Special Purpose Vehicles are now the biggest customers in the commercial space market in Delhi as the sarkari bhawans have