Budget 2018: It’s a big, busy day for FM Arun Jaitley

In a few hours from now, FM Arun Jaitley will reach Parliament with his budget briefcase on Thursday. It will be a big and busy Thursday for Jaitley.

New Delhi, Feb 1: Arun Jaitley is the man of the moment.

For a change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can sit and relax a bit as the Union finance minister shoulder the responsibility to deliver an 'all-pleasing' budget for Indians.

These days, the first and foremost image that comes to the minds of common man is Jaitley holding his budget briefcase in front of Parliament and smiling as camerapersons mob him to take his pictures.

What holds beneath that smile is anybody's guess. Hopefully, Jaitley will be able to bring smiles on the faces of people by cutting income tax rates, reducing excise duty on petrol and diesel, introducing reforms in the farm sector and reducing fiscal deficit, to name a few.

In a few hours from now, Jaitley will reach Parliament with his budget briefcase on Thursday. It will be a big and busy Thursday for Jaitley. Some of the important events the FM will attend are:

·Jaitley's budget speech in Parliament at 11 am

·The FM to give live interview to Doordarshan at 2 pm

·Post-budget press conference of the FM at 4 pm

·Discussion on Doordarshan with Economic Advisory Council at 4:30 pm

·#AskYourFM Talkathon at Doordarshan at 7 pm

Will the last full budget of the Modi government be an exercise in politics to woo voters ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, or a smart economic outlay for the country for 2018-2019?

Jaitley will present one more budget in 2019, but it will be only a vote-on-account. Thus the FM has to present a budget that will give a major push to the current sluggish economy of the country.

OneIndia News