Show commitment to equity in the Budget

On January 17, 2022, Oxfam International presented its annual global “Inequality Report”. During the novel coronavirus pandemic, the report reveals, more than half the world’s new poor are from India; 84% Indian households have suffered a loss of income, with 4.6 crore people falling into extreme poverty. One of the most important places to show commitment to equity, is the Union Budget; and inequality should perhaps be discussed threadbare in India before, and after every Union and State Budget. Among other important principles, Article 38 states: “The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.” Article 39 states: The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing — that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment. In contrast, policymakers have just in the last year increased their own salaries and pensions through a DA increase to 28%, and given themselves a bonus of 3% — with just the increase for one crore central government employees and pensioners costing the exchequer more than the total social security pension budget for 3.3 crore beneficiaries.