Budget Reactions Go Viral As Funny Memes Flood Social Media

Netizens are having a field day as they flood social media with funny memes over the Union Budget 2024.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the interim budget on Thursday which will address the financial requirements during the interim period until a new government is formed post the Lok Sabha polls.

Subsequently, a comprehensive budget will be presented by the incoming government in July. This budget by Sitharaman has matched the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who, as the finance minister, delivered five annual budgets and one interim budget from 1959 to 1964.

The Budget Session 2024 commenced on Wednesday with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

In her budget speech, the Finance Minister said that the Indian economy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has witnessed a profound transformation in the last 10 years as the government took several pro-people reforms that were structural.

"In 2014, the country was facing enormous challenges, the government overcame those challenges and undertook structural reforms, pro-people reforms were undertaken, conditions for jobs and entrepreneurship were set in, fruits of development started reaching people at scale, country got a sense of new purpose and hope," Sitharaman added.

Meeting the needs and fulfilling the aspirations of four "major castes" -- the poor, women, the youth and farmers -- of the country are the government's highest priority, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "It covers all castes and people at all levels. We are working to make India 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047. For achieving this goal, we need to improve people's capability and empower them," she said. There is a need to focus on "four major castes" that are "garib" (the poor), "mahilayen" (women), "yuva" (the youth) and "annadata" (the farmer), Sitharaman said and asserted that their needs, aspirations and welfare are "our highest priority".

"The country progresses, when they progress. All four require and receive the government's support in their quest for better their lives. Their empowerment and wellbeing will drive the country forward," the Finance Minister said in her pre-election budget.

She said that earlier, social justice was mostly a "political slogan". For this government, social justice is an effective and necessary governance model, Sitharaman said.

"The saturation approach of covering all eligible people is the true and comprehensive achievement of social justice. This is secularism in action, reduces corruption and prevents nepotism. There is transparency and assurance that benefits are delivered to all eligible people," she said. Sitharaman said that now resources are distributed fairly.

"All, regardless of their social standing, get access to opportunities. We are addressing systemic inequalities that had plagued our society. We focus on outcomes and not on outlays so that the socio-economic transformation is achieved," she said.