A Budget speech disguised as an Address to Nation, but will it heal wounds?

Nation was almost “demanding” for some “damage control” and as it appeared, Prime Minister was almost too keen to deliver them

There goes a saying called “Christmas came too soon”! In India’s context you can say the “springtime came too soon”, since during springtime only the various provisions of the Union Budget are read aloud to nation, as people hold their breaths and sit and listen.

Well, on December 31, during the much awaited Prime Minister’s address to the nation, people almost got the feeling as if they were listening to a Budget speech with a slew of sops and a flurry of populist measures. But no, it was not a Budget speech, it was indeed a Prime Minister’s address to the nation, a nation which was almost “demanding” for some “damage control” and as it appeared, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was almost too keen to deliver them. But will it save the day for the government?

It seemed that Modi has somewhat managed to get the grip of the narrative that was seemingly gone out of his hand post-demonetization anarchic days. In the last few days, things had started to settle down and the nation was apparently getting psychologically ready for the concept of cashless economy. RBI had decided to raise the cap for money withdrawal from ATM from 2500 to 4500/- and this was welcomed by a large section of people as a huge relief. Just the other day, Modi launched his UPI based mobile payment application called BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) to forward his digital payment drive. On the last day of year. Modi gave away so many gifts to the middle class, to farmers, to women, to senior citizens that going into new year they may just have less pain and less grudges for what they had to suffer post-demonetization phase.

In a nut shell Prime Minister announced these measures in his address :

1)    On home loans up to Rs 9 lakh for people in lower-income groups, 4% lower interest rates will be given, and on loans up to Rs 12 lakh, they will get 3% lower interest rates
2)    There will be a Rs 2 crore credit guarantee for medium and small-scale enterprises, and a 60-day interest waiver for farmers
3)    Cash credit limit for small enterprises is increased by 25%
4)    Pregnant women will get Rs 6,000 in assistance, the money will be transferred directly to their account
5)    There will be an interest rate of 8% for fixed deposits over Rs 7.5 lakh made by senior citizens

While Modi urged citizens of India and leaders of opposition parties to co-operate with him, he also sent a strong message to those bank officials, who have been evidently dishonest in their conduct post-demonetization phase to derail the whole process of cleansing the economy of black money. It was also clear that he was keen to appease his voters by trying to lure them into his fold again by announcing such populist measures.

However, these things are still not clear :

1) How the nation was benefitted by the much-talked demonetization scheme, in stark and clear figures
2) When the restrictions imposed on people regarding withdrawing their own money are going to be lifted fully
3) When enough currency notes will be circulated in the economy again.
4) How about NPA’s.
5) How about bringing transparency in the funding of political parties.

Well, even after Prime Minister’s self-imposed 50 days deadline, these questions seem to remain unanswered and it may take a little longer than next 50 days too to get their answers, I am afraid.