Panel discussion on Annual Budget Analysis 2020
Date: 05 February, 2020

With the budget announced by our Finance minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, on the 1st of February 2020, the student body of first year Masters in Applied Economics, thought of reflecting on the budget on the various economic disciplines. 
As a part of the economics department an ‘Annual Budget Analysis 2020’ was organised by a bunch of enthusiastic students, on the 5th of February 2020. To understand the budget, we invited our Head of the department Dr. Joshy KJ, Dr Greeshma Manoj and Dr Gerard Rassendren. Each of the panellists, were to give their inputs on their areas of expertise. The panel revolved around the areas of macroeconomic aspects, industrial economic implications, and the political economic implications- all of which were the areas of expertise our panellists. To moderate our session Ms. Dhriti Garg, took us to the entire session.
The discussion revolved around the implementation of the tax related proposals for the current budget, which to our panellists unanimously felt that it would not have any positive impact. The only addition was of confusion and chaos in the system. In terms of the aspect of revenue mobilisation was pretty much of a limited scope.
Clearly, the panel also addressed the fact that the budget was more of a rhetoric, in terms of just adding a lot in terms of promises, without a clear path or a plan to address the issues prevalent in the economy. The student body and the panel, unanimously agreed to the fact that the lack of admission of the economy is in crisis, was conveniently understated by the government. It should have been addressed in a convincing manner to the citizens of the country, as the citizens deserve to know the reality. We had an insightful showcasing the contrast of the budget presentation, of the fact on the approach of the post liberalisation of the nations’ budget presented by Manmohan Singh, and the approach of Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman. We were able to understand the different approaches of the governments we have today.
Another pressing issues of the creation of jobs in the economy. The panellists have pointed out that there are steps being taken by the government, in order to fix the issue. But the glaring problem of unemployment figures in the country which is a 45-year high, clear cut aspect on how the government is going to ensure a boost to the economy in terms of creating jobs is a big question. As many of the students who would be aspiring to get into the job market post the education programs, the job markets still show a slim show of recovery as pointed by the panellists. The need to address in terms of clear roadmap in terms of reviving the investment sentiments across the sectors is the need of the hour. 
Overall the budget discussion was a mix of opinions on various aspects. There were points of joint agreements and disagreements on various aspects by the panellists. This helped us as students to understand how much the economy has changed in terms of the budget. Overall it was a good learning experience and many gained a lot in terms of the knowledge exposure thorough the programme.

Maneesh Kumar C
II MA. Eco