Union Budget 2010: Nothing to cheer for Keralites
Published February 27, 2010 | It was a long wait for the Keralites before the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee finally announced the Union budget 2010. People of Kerala were expecting something to cheer about this year, but it turned out to be a disappointment for them, with the total revenue allocation for the state dropping.
Well this year’s budget seemed to be favouring more on the province from where these ministers hail from, first it was the Railway Minister ‘Mamata Banerjee showering goodies to West Bengal in the railway budget 2010. Followed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s proposal to include embankment schemes along rivers Bhagirathi and Ganga-Padma in the Central Sponsored Flood Management Programme, will benefit the people of Eastern state. At large the budget 2010 has thrashed the hopes of Kerala which was expecting something this year.
The left government of Kerala has termed the budget to be a corporate’s budget with nothing for the common man. The so-called common man was bearing the pressure of inflation and with this budget it seems the “Aam aadmi”(common man) has nothing to be happy. Even the Kerala government were continuously demanding relaxations to protect the domestic sector by maximizing the custom tariff of primary agricultural products but nothing came out for them this year.
Highlights of Union Budget 2010
What got dearer :
- ACs
- TVs
- Big Cars
- Petrol
- Diesel
- Cigarettes and Cigars
- Non-Smoking tobacco products
- Air Travel ( due to the rise in fuel prices)
What got cheaper:
- Mobile phones
- Medical Equipment
- Agricultural Equipment
- CFL bulbs
- Clean energy equipments like solar panels
- Set top boxes
- Compact Disc
- Toys
- Books
The budget might have triggered the sensex to crawl up by 176 point but it failed to please the people with fuel prices going up. It seems people of Kerala have to wait for the next year’s Union budget to find if they have something to cheer.
On being asked to the people about their say on this budget, they were not so excited. It seems the calculation of the common man of Kerala has completely gone down with the hike in fuel price and nothing special for the state in the budget!
