The budget and after

THE banker-turned-finance minister appeared nonplussed as he responded to the questions on Budget 2024-2025 that has burdened the already weighed-down salaried classes while protecting the privileged. He could only offer words of ‘sympathy and empathy’ to the affected people. His defence of exemptions extended to the top civil and military bureaucracy and retail businesses was equally superficial.

But why should one blame the rookie finance minister for the budgetary jugglery we have witnessed?