Page 62 - EducationWorld March 2023

Cover story II

UNION BUDGET 2023-24
260 MILLION CHILDREN

SHORTCHANGED. AGAIN.

Although finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman seems to have
pleased India Inc with her Budget 2023-24 tax and spend
proposals, following a long and negligent tradition of North
Block, Delhi, she has paid scant attention to the education
sector

Dilip Thakore

T ed to Parliament last month has — as despite the unprecedented GDP contraction of 6.6 percent

HE UNION BUDGET 2023-24 present-
in 2020-21 and subsequently firing the idling engines of
the economy which is now reportedly the fastest growing
usual — been widely acclaimed by cap-
tains of industry and media pundits.
worldwide (forecast at 6.8 percent in 2023-24 by IMF),
must be awarded to her.
Not entirely without cause this time.
There is undoubtedly substance in
That the Indian economy has recovered its momentum
the comment that it’s the best of the
five consecutive budgets presented by even as most other countries around the world are expe-
riencing recessionary conditions is substantially true. As
Finance Minister Dr. Nirmala Sith- reported in Budget 2023-24, the Centre’s tax revenue in
araman. 2022-23 at Rs.41.87 lakh crore is 6.2 percent higher than
She has pleasantly surprised all by her able manage- the budgeted Rs.39.44 lakh crore and 4.06 percent higher
ment — especially compared to her predecessors P. Chi- than in 2021-22. This is proof that Indian industry has re-
dambaram and incompetent Pranab Mukherjee — of this covered its momentum.
vitally important ministry since she was moved from the It also reflects tax collection efficiency and that teeth-
defence ministry to North Block, Delhi five years ago. ing problems of switching to the CGST (Central Goods and
It’s pertinent to bear in mind that during her tenure, she Services Tax) indirect tax system in 2017, have been sorted.
had to guide the economy through two years of the pan- CGST contributed Rs.26.71 lakh crore (upto January 2023)
demic when business and industry was severely disrupted to total tax collection of Rs.37.91 lakh crore. It rebounds
by lockdown of factories and business establishments and to the BJP government’s credit that cascading sales taxes
education institutions to prevent the deadly Covid-19 vi- which artificially pushed up the price of goods and services
rus from decimating the country’s population. A substantial for decades, have been abolished.
measure of credit for keeping the economy on even keel The fact that the CGST payments system has been suc-

64 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2023