The Brinjal Budget!

The only line I could hear finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman say loud and clear is that Modiji told her No New Taxes! Aah what a relief! But alas we are the onion eating janata and so we have to pay Rs.50 per kilo for onions. Rs. 200 for edible oil. Rs. 100 for petrol and diesel. Rs.

1000 for cooking gas. And cement is like Rs. 450, up by Rs. 100 per bag. Iron is up by Rs. 30 kilo. Sand is Rs 60 per tin, up by Rs.30. Urea and DAP the fertlisers are up by a few hundred but unavailable even at higher rates. The economy is ground to a halt. Because this Modi government thinks oil is milk. BBC Hindi carried a radio report on what the budget had for farmers. Interesting listening to voices from Uttar Pradesh, the state going to the polls. And it concluded the budget had nothing for the farmers. The Prime Minister gives Rs 6000 per year as kisan Sammlan. It's virtually nothing to the individual farmer but it's a huge drain on the exchequer...thousands of crores of our money... so that Modiji can win the election. But for farmers the lockdown years have been tough at best. Like I sell brinjals for Rs 10 per kilo in the local Mandi. And because Indians stand with farmers they buy brinjals from Big Basket for Rs. 115 per kilo. There is no Hindi word for a budget. At best it is aaye vyay ka lekha jokha. For farmers it's just baigun ka chokhha!