Prudence first

Interim Budget sticks to fiscal glide path

In an election year, the Union government is supposed to present merely a vote-on-account on February 1; major policy proposals and tax changes are postponed until July, under a new administration with a fresh mandate. However, the vote-on-account has over time morphed into a grander “Interim Budget” that can bend, if not break, the convention preventing electioneering through Budget proposals. This year, however, in a welcome return to transparency and convention, the Interim Budget stuck to the essentials: Presentation of the last year’s performance, and conservative allotments for the coming year. There were no grand giveaways, no conspicuous welfarism, no