 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis for the date 2nd of February 2020. We know that the union budget for the financial year 2020-2021 was presented in the parliament yesterday by the union finance minister. You can see that almost all the newspapers have discussed in length and depth about the union budget, including the Hindu. So in our today's analysis, we shall try to simplify the concepts related to government budgeting. Don't think that budgeting and the economic concepts behind budgeting is very complex and difficult to understand. It is in fact easy if you know the underlying concepts behind budgeting. So first let us see the layman concept of budgeting. Then we shall see how government budgeting is done. And once we see the concepts, let us discuss all the news articles and editorials related to the union budget. The list of news articles taken for today's analysis along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken for today's analysis is available in the description section, as well as in the common section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Today what we have done is we have displayed the syllabus which is common to the analysis of all the news articles and editorials. So just have a look at it for your reference. Now let us start our discussion. First, consider a small unit. For example, your own family. Assume that your mother and father are working or doing business and they get some revenue every month. For example, take one lakh rupees. Now, there will be certain daily requirements like purchasing milk, newspaper and there will be some monthly requirements like purchasing food, clothes, etc. And apart from this, your parents will also have to pay your college fees. Then you will have to receive some pocket money, etc. Then apart from this, your parents might spend on maintaining assets in your home. Then there might be some money which will be saved by your parents. And also in some cases, a portion of money will be used to pay loans, other debts, etc. So together all these constitute the expenditure of your parents. So this calculation of the total revenue earned by your parents for a particular month and the expenditure that is the spending that they do for a particular month or for any particular time period is what is called as the family budget. This is a very layman concept of what is meant by budgeting. Now think of the same scenario in case of a large unit that is country. The same revenue and expenditure activities have to be calculated by the government. It is the constitutional mandate that the government has to do budgeting. So this is what we call it as a general budget or a union budget. So budget is the annual financial statement of the government. We told that there is a constitutional mandate for the government to present the budget. Know that under article 112, the union government is obliged to present the budget every financial year. Know that a budget will have three sets of data which is the actual figure of the previous financial year, then the budget and the revised estimates for the current financial year and then the budgeted estimate for the upcoming financial year. So if the budget is for the upcoming financial year, then it means the financial year 2020-2021 and the previous financial year is 2018-2019. The current year is the financial year 2019-2020. So we know that the budget deals with the revenues and expenditures of the government. This revenue and the expenditure are made into and they flow out of three types of funds. One is the consolidated fund of India, the next is the public accounts of India and the third is the contingency fund of India. First let us see about the consolidated fund of India. See the consolidated fund of India is mentioned under article 266, clause 1. It says that all revenues received by the government of India, all loans raised by that government by the issue of treasury bills, then the loans or ways and means advances and all monies that are received by the government in the repayment of loans shall form the consolidated fund of India. And all expenditure incurred by the government including the repayment of debts and loans given to the states or union territories is spent out of this consolidated fund. So there will be some money that comes into the consolidated fund and there will be some money that is spent out of this consolidated fund. So this is what you need to know about the consolidated fund of India. Next let us see about the public accounts of India. See article 266, clause 2 mentions about the public accounts of India. It says that all the public money that is received other than those which are included in the consolidated fund of India goes to the public accounts of India. Usually if you see this account consists of money raised through small savings scheme then provident fund etc. Next let us see the contingency fund. See the contingency fund is mentioned under article 267. This fund is placed at the disposal of the president. And the objective of this fund is to make use of the money from this fund if there are any unforeseen expenditures. So the money will be spent from this contingency fund and the president will get the approval of the parliament later after spending the money. So these are the three types of funds. Next let us discuss the core parts of the budget which are receipts and expenditure. Receipts is simply the money that you get and expenditure is simply the money that you spend. So in budget terms, receipts show the amount of money that the government has received or generated and the expenditure part shows how the generated money will be spent for the growth of the economy by the government. Now know that there are further classification in the receipts and expenditure. First let us see about the classification under the receipts. See receipts are of two types. One is the revenue receipts and the next is the capital receipts. First let us see about revenue receipts. Revenue receipts are receipts which need not be paid back to the payee by the government. So it is a one-way transaction or we can tell it as a one-time settlement. And if you see revenue receipts are further divided into three types. One is the tax revenue, the next is the non-tax revenue and the third is the other non-tax receipts. First let us see about tax revenue. The tax revenue is nothing but the revenue that is generated by the levy and collection of taxes by the central government. This includes the direct taxes like your income tax, corporate tax, etc. and indirect tax like the goods and service tax, nothing but the GST. Next let us see non-tax revenue. This includes revenue that is generated through the interest receipts like interest from the loans that are given by the center. Then also the revenue that is generated from the dividends from the shares that are held by the government and the private enterprises and it also includes the profits from the government-owned enterprises. Next let us see about non-tax receipts. This includes the profits from circulation of currency, coins and minting and then it also includes the receipts from departments like education, health, agriculture and transport, etc. Then it also includes grants in aid from foreign countries and other multilateral bodies which need not be repaid. So grant is different from a loan. So this is all about the revenue receipts. Next let us see capital receipts. Know that the capital receipts are essentially two-way transactions. They are the receipts which either create a liability or cause a reduction in the assets of the government and they are non-recurring and non-routine in nature. For example, it includes the receipts due to the disposal of permanent assets then maybe because of the recovery of loans that are given to others or even maybe because of the fresh loans that are raised by the government. So all these form capital receipts. And if you see these capital receipts can further be classified into two as debt capital receipts and non-debt capital receipts. First let us see about the debt capital receipts. As the name says the debt capital receipts create a debt obligation on the government. That is it includes the borrowing or the fresh loans that are raised by the government and other liabilities. So simply we can tell that the money which the government gets by borrowing. And if you see this borrowing can be further classified into two as internal borrowing and external borrowing. Internal borrowing is nothing but the money that is borrowed from within the country. It includes market loans raised by issuing bonds then the amount raised by issuing treasury bills to the RBI and other banks and ways and means advanced by the Reserve Bank of India. You know that ways and means advances the short-term interest bearing advance to the government in order to meet the temporary needs. So this is all about the internal borrowing. Next if you look at external borrowing this includes the money that is borrowed from outside the country that is from outside India from various sources. This may include the loans received from multilateral agencies such as International Monetary Fund or the World Bank and even the bilateral loans that are raised by India that is from another country. So always know that a country can manage its debt only when the internal borrowings are more than the external borrowings. So the external borrowings has to be as less as possible. Now let us see the other liabilities forming debt capital receipts. This includes the money that is raised through small saving scheme then the Providence Fund that are kept in the public accounts of India. So this is all about debt capital receipts. Now let us see about non-debt capital receipts. See the non-debt capital receipts do not create further debt obligation on the government. They mainly include the recovery of loans that are given to others and then the disinvestment of government shares other than the public sector units. So this is all about the receipt part of the budget. Next let us see the expenditure part of the budget. See the public expenditure can be classified again into two types. One is the revenue expenditure and the other is the capital expenditure. First let us see about revenue expenditure. Revenue expenditure is the expenditure that is incurred by the government to meet its day-to-day and regular needs and they will not yield any sort of revenue in the future. So it is a one-way payment. This includes interest that is paid by the government on borrowings and other liabilities then the expenditure of the government towards law and order maintenance then subsidies then grants given to the states and union territories by the central government then on the pensions and salaries and the grants to the foreign government etc. So all this comes under revenue expenditure. Next if you look at capital expenditure this includes the spending which creates permanent assets and they yield periodical income from these assets. This includes the investments that are made by the government in machinery then on infrastructure such as roads, buildings etc. Then it also includes loans that are given to the states and union territories as they yield interest rates in the future. So we can see that it is a two-way payment since the money which the central government gives to the states or the union territories will be recovered later. So this is all about the expenditure part of the budget and this is all about government budgeting that you need to know from exam point of view. So far we have discussed the core parts of the annual financial statement or simply the budget. The next basics that you need to know is about fiscal deficit. Know that deficit is a condition when your spending is greater than the money you earn. So in this context the fiscal deficit means the total expenditure minus the total receipts except the borrowings and other liabilities. It simply means the deficit that arises when the government's expenditure exceeds its revenues. Here exclude the money which is generated as revenues from borrowings and other liabilities. Or you can also tell in one more way that the fiscal deficit value is nothing but the government's borrowings and other liabilities. So remember this concept of fiscal deficit and later we will be seeing a news article on this fiscal deficit. We know that the budget for every financial year is presented by the finance minister. So there will be a budget speech by the finance minister. This picture will give you an idea about the list of budget documents that are presented to the parliament when the finance minister makes his or her budget speech. First is the annual financial statement. Nothing but the document which contains the estimates of receipts and expenditure of the government. This annual financial statement is provided under article 112 of Indian constitution. Just remember this fact. Now the receipts and the expenditures are shown under three parts in which the government accounts are kept which we saw earlier. Nothing but the consolidated fund of India then the contingency fund of India and the public accounts of India. Next is the demands for grants which is provided in article 113 of Indian constitution. So this article 113 of Indian constitution mandates that the estimates of expenditure from the consolidated fund of India which is included in the annual financial statement has to be submitted in the form of demand for grants and this demand for grants will be presented to the Lok Sabha along with the annual financial statement and it will be voted by the Lok Sabha. So generally if you see there is one demand for grant which is presented in respect of each ministry or department but sometimes there can be more than one demand which may be presented depending on the nature of the expenditure. So if you see in this budget there are 101 demands for grants. So this is all about the demands for grants that you need to know. Next there will be financial bill. So what is this financial bill? At the time of presentation of the annual financial statement before the parliament a financial bill must also be presented by the government. So this is as per article 110 clause 1a of Indian constitution this article details the imposition of taxes and the abolition of taxes any remission of taxes any alteration or regulation of taxes that is proposed in the union budget and it will also contain other provisions that are relating to the budget which could be classified as money bill. So whatever changes made to the tax structure will be passed in the form of financial bill and know that a finance bill is a money bill as defined in article 110 of Indian constitution. So apart from these three you can also find macroeconomic framework statements and medium term fiscal policy strategy statements which form the list of budget documents that are presented to the parliament. If you see both these statements are mandated to be presented to the parliament as per section 3 of the fiscal responsibility and budget management act in short the FRBM act of 2003. Now if you look at this macroeconomic framework statement it will contain assessments on the growth prospects of Indian economy with some assumptions then it will also contain an assessment regarding the GDP growth rate of India then about the domestic economy then about the fiscal balance of the central government and related items. Then if you look at the medium term fiscal policy come fiscal policy strategy statement it sets out the three year rolling targets for six specific fiscal indicators in relation to GDP at market prices which are fiscal deficit, revenue deficit stock, primary deficit, tax revenues non tax revenues and central government debt. So this will also contain assumptions for the targets that are set. This is all about both these statements which are mandated under FRBM act. Then if you look at the remaining items from expenditure budget till the key features these are all classified as other explanatory documents to substantiate the figures that are presented from the annual financial statement till the statements that are mandated under FRBM act. So these are the list of budget documents that are presented to the parliament so these are the basic concepts about the general budget that you need to know from exam point of view. Also we saw what kind of budget documents are present when the budget is presented in the parliament. With this background in mind now let us see all the news articles and editorials regarding the union budget. So today's idea is to first see the theme of the union budget as presented by the union finance minister. Then we will see about the expenditures and the receipts of the union government that is mentioned and discussed in the budget. And after that we will see some news articles and editorials related to the tax related revenues and government's decision on the tax revenues. And then we will see a news article about the fiscal deficit target of the government which was announced in the budget. And then we will see two more editorials where the authors have put forward their comments on the union budget. Now let us look at the first news article which is a front page news article that discusses about the theme of this union budget. So this year's union budget that is the union budget 2020 2021 which was presented yesterday that is on 1st of February is woven around three prominent themes. These themes are aspirational India, economic development and caring society in order to improve the ease of living. Now if you look at the title of this news article it is mentioned as booster short. It means that the presented budget is short of necessary actions that are needed to revive the fast flowing economy. So in this context let us see these three themes that are mentioned in the budget and some of the prominent themes like governance and financial sector. So in order to improve the ease of living the government has come up with three themes in the budget. First is the aspirational India. This theme shall cover programs and plans related to agriculture, irrigation and rural development and then wellness, water and sanitation and then education and skills. Then if you look at the second component which is the economic development this theme covers programs and plans related to industry commerce and investment then plans on infrastructure and then new economy and then if you look at the third theme which is the caring society it covers programs and plans related to women and child social welfare then programs and plans on culture and tourism and then programs and plans on environment and climate change. Then apart from this the budget is also given prominent imposition to other themes like governance and financial sector. So in the union budget it is mentioned that the first three broad themes like aspirational India, economic development and caring India are like flowers in the bouquet that is the ease of living and holding this bouquet together are the two hands where one hand is the corruption free policy driven good governance and the other hand is the clean and sound financial sector. Here what do we mean by governance? See the governance theme is based on minimum government but maximum governance. See the government brought in a paradigm shift in governance and this shift was characterized by twin focus one is on the fundamental structural reforms and next is on the inclusive growth. Here the structural reforms include the insolvency in bankruptcy code then the introduction of GST then shift to direct benefit transfer that is promoting digital governance. Here inclusive growth is guided by Sabka Saat, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas that is together with all development for all and the trust of all. So the one hand is the governance the next hand is the clean and sound financial sector. This theme includes financial markets then infrastructure financing then this investment then fiscal management etc. Here the government has emphasized the fact that a clean reliable and robust financial sector is critical to India's economy in order to achieve the goal of $5 trillion economy by 2024-2025. So this is all about the theme of this union budget that you need to know. Now look at this table you can see the budget allocation for major sectors or the themes that we have discussed so far. We shall look at more on these themes exclusively one by one in our upcoming news analysis. Now just try to have an idea about the themes in brief. So to conclude this topic we saw that this union budget is dedicated to provide ease of living to all the citizens based on prominent themes like aspirational India then economic development for all and then caring society along with good governance and a clean and sound financial architecture. This is all about the analysis of this news article. Let us move on to the next article. Next let us look at this picture which is displayed in the news article. This picture explains the overall spending of the government that is the overall expenditures of the government which is proposed for the financial year 2020-2021 that is the fiscal year 2021. You can see that the government's expenditure on interest will be more in the upcoming financial year. This forms a major portion of the expenditure budget so just have a look at this picture for your reference. Now let us look at two more pictures one is related to the receipts of the government and the next one is related to the expenditure of the government. From these figures let us now try to get certain facts which are important from prelims point of view. Now if you look at this receipts picture which is titled rupee comes from you can see that a major portion of receipts are from borrowings and other liabilities that is nothing but the debt capital receipts of the government. So we can see that the government is not earning much through the way of taxes that is through the way of revenue receipts but instead it is earning a lot through the way of debt capital receipts which includes borrowings and other liabilities. Now if you look at the tax revenues which forms a part of revenue receipts of the government you can see an almost equal contribution from both corporate tax and the indirect tax nothing but the goods and services tax. So we know that GSTs and indirect tax whereas corporate tax nothing but the corporation tax is a direct tax. Among direct taxes if you see the maximum revenue is from corporation tax which is around 18 percentage. Next if you look at the expenditure scenario the maximum expenditure is on interest payments apart from state share of taxes and duties which is around 20 percentage. So the government is spending more on interest payments now you can correlate this fact with the first picture that we saw that interest payments form a major portion of the government's expenditure. Now interest payment is nothing but the government is paying interest towards its borrowings. So we can say that it will further increase the borrowings of the government in order to meet the fiscal deficit. So when the government borrows more the fiscal deficit is bound to increase. So we can see that the maximum expenditure is on interest payments. Next if you look at the government's expenditure among schemes the government is going to spend more on central sector schemes that is those schemes that are funded 100 percentage by the central government. So it is around 13 percentage and then government is planned to spend around 9 percentage of its total expenditure for centrally sponsored schemes that is where the center funds a portion of the scheme along with the state government or the union territory. So these are some of the important facts that you need to know from prelims point of view. Now we will discuss more on this revenues expenditure with the help of an editorial in the later part of our discussion. Next let us see some news articles and editorials related to the tax revenues of the government. The tax revenues come under the revenue receipts of the government. Now let us look at the news article where reductions in income tax lapse have been proposed. See in this union budget the finance minister has offered for an opt-in option whereby the tax rates for those people who will be up to 15 lakhs will be reduced. This reduction in tax rate mainly targets the middle class salaried employees. The purpose is actually to boost the consumption demand of these individuals. Also to provide relief to these individuals who are the tax payers. Simply to say it aims to put more money in the hands of the people in order to boost the overall consumption. Because if you remember in the recent reports released by World Bank or the International Monetary Fund a major comment was that consumption demand in India has reduced. So this measure will be one of the measures to increase the overall consumption in India. Now just have a look at this table. From this table we can see that for an individual those who earn between 5 lakhs and 7.5 lakh rupees the existing tax rate is 20 percentage. But if he or she opts for the new tax lap then they have to pay only 10 percentage under the new tax lap. But if you see this is not a ticket rate cut from 20 percentage to 10 percentage. But it is a conditional tax rate cut. That is it comes with certain terms and conditions. Now only if the individual is ready to give up almost all the tax exemptions and the deductions that they receive and which they enjoy like the leave travel allowance or the house rent allowance. Then housing loan repayment. Then saving instruments such as public provident fund then LIC. And as well as the standard deduction. Only then they could opt for the lower tax rate slap. So if an individual is ready to forego all the exemptions that they enjoy only then they can pay the 10 percentage which has been introduced in this budget instead of the existing 20 percentage. So it is a conditional rate cut. If they are ready to give up the exemptions then they can enjoy the new tax rate as proposed in the budget. But if a taxpayer does not want to give up the exemptions then they can continue under the existing tax lab instead of moving to the newer tax labs. So now there are two options for an individual who pays income tax. One is higher tax rate with exemptions. Another is lower tax rate without exemptions. So this is the difference that you need to know. Here in this news article you can see that the finance minister has mentioned that the tax payers need accountants help to calculate the benefits of the new tax regime. Because there are too many calculations involved in the deductions and exemptions. Some critics point out that most individuals are not in a position to determine whether moving to lower tax rate would benefit them or not because it is quite complicated. And they also tell that the lower tax rate would be attractive only to the non-salary tax payers that is those who do businesses or to those people who do not avail any sort of exemptions as of now. But if you see majority of the salary tax payers have opted for exemptions like house rent allowance then housing loan repayment etc. So they conclude that it will not make any substantial difference in the tax money which they will pay to the government. Because they tell that the both tax labs will be more or less the same. Now related to this tax reduction there is an editorial where a part of that editorial is discussed on this tax reduction. In that editorial the author tells that the new tax reduction may not be as attractive as it appears. Because most lower tax payers have opted for popular exemptions and deductions like house rent allowance then housing loan repayment then leave travel concession then concessions under section ATC like the life insurance premium and then concessions under section ATD on medical insurance premium and so on. So it will be very hard for them to come out of these schemes that they are enjoying till now. And even if they pay lower taxes for their income they would not be able to enjoy these exemptions anymore. When they switch over to the lower tax slab. So the author of this editorial is of the opinion that the new tax reduction is not attractive as it appears. So this is all about the discussion of the tax rate cuts that has been proposed in the union budget and an editorial discussion related to the tax rate cuts. Next let us discuss a news article which discusses about the tax option given to the cooperative societies. See the cooperative societies in India currently taxed at a rate of 30% with sudden surcharge and cess. Now the proposal in this union budget is that they will have a lower tax rate which is 22% so now they have been given an option to be taxed at 22% plus 10% surcharge plus 4% cess but with no exemptions or deductions. So similar to the income tax rate cuts the cooperative tax rate cuts are also conditional. So do not think that they are reduced but in fact they have been given an additional option to opt for lower tax rates but without any exemptions or deductions. Now in this context what we need to know is about the cooperative societies in India. Now why cooperative societies are important because they help in uplifting the socio-economic conditions of the members and the local communities where they work at the grassroots level. So to realize the value of the cooperative societies the government itself provides certain legal frameworks with necessary safeguards and privileges. Now if you look cooperative societies is a state subject which is listed under NT 32 of the 7th schedule of Indian constitution nothing but the state list. Now coming to the legal framework see by 97th Constitutional Amendment Act 3 major changes were done with respect to cooperative societies first one is the words cooperative societies were added in clause 1 of article 19 under part 3 of Indian constitution which is about fundamental rights. So this amendment makes a right to form a cooperative society as a fundamental right. Secondly if you see a new sub clause under article 43 was inserted. So articles 36 to 51 of Indian constitution is nothing but the directive principles of state policy. So article 43 also comes under directive principles of state policy. Now the provision under this article 43 is that it directs the government to frame policies that encourage cooperatives so article 43 B states that the government shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, the democratic control and then professional management of cooperative societies. Lastly if you see this 97th Constitutional Amendment Act also added part 9 B that is the cooperative societies. This part has certain mandatory uniform requirements which include the tenure, composition and election to the management of cooperative societies. So this is the legal framework given to cooperatives with necessary safeguards and privileges. Presently if you see there are two laws that regulate cooperative societies. First one is state cooperative societies acts of individual states because we saw that cooperative societies comes under the state list. And next one is multi-state cooperative societies act of 2002 which provides for multi-state cooperative societies that is cooperative societies which function in more than one state. So there are two laws which regulate cooperative societies in India. Now why the finance minister has proposed this tax rate of 22 percentage without exemptions and deductions is because the government aims to bring in parity between the cooperative societies and the corporates because the corporate tax were reduced previously. So this is all that you need to know about the cooperative societies. So these are some of the news articles which are related to the proposals for tax rate reduction. One in case of income tax and the other in case of the tax for cooperative societies. Now if you look there is one more news article which discusses about tax payers charter. If you see this union budget calls for a tax payers charter which enumerates the rights of the tax payers. See we are all aware of citizens charter right. The citizen charter is nothing but a document that declass the standards of services that are offered to citizens. By means of this it aims to empower the citizens in relation to public service delivery. And this in turn makes the administration more accountable, transparent and citizen friendly. So in line with that the union finance minister has proposed to amend the provisions of the income tax act of 1961. Now this amendment will mandate the central board of direct taxes to adopt a tax payers charter. Here you just need to know about the central board of direct taxes. It is a authority formed as per the provisions of central board of revenue act of 1963. It functions under the department of revenue in the ministry of finance. The central board of direct taxes provides inputs for policy and planning for direct taxes in India. Then it is also responsible for the administration of direct tax laws through the income tax department. So now in addition to these functions as per the proposal of this union budget now the central board for direct taxes will prepare the tax charter. This charter is likely to enumerate the rights of tax payers. So this will in turn make the tax payers aware of their rights and it will boost the trust between the citizens. Those who are tax payers and the authorities. So we can hope that the tax payers charter will further bring in fairness and efficiency in the tax administration. So this is all you need to know about this news article. So these are some of the news articles related to tax revenues which comes under the revenue receipts of the general budget. Next let us discuss an editorial which analyzes the expenditure and the receipts that have been proposed in this union budget. The author of this editorial begins by giving an introduction to the present state of Indian economy. As we all know Indian economy is currently undergoing a continuous slowdown and our economic growth has touched a six year low and also unemployment has touched a 45 year then the demands especially the rural consumption demand was falling and then tax revenues was much below the expected mark. So this union budget 2020-2021 was expected to resolve all this issue and put back to the growth trajectory. In this editorial the author is of the view that the finance minister could have done two things to revive growth. First is to allocate more for the capital expenditure of the government and secondly to introduce more structural economic reforms which would help to revive the growth in the long term and according to the author this union budget has succeeded in the first aspect that is to allocate more for the capital expenditure of the government. However the budget has felt short of the expectations of the market with respect to the second aspect that is to introduce more structural economic reforms. Here the author substantiates his viewpoints. We know that the government was facing a short fall in the total receipts that is the government is not earning much because of certain measures which were introduced by the government previously like reducing the corporate tax rate in 2019 which caused the government nearly 1 lakh crore and apart from this the tax revenues have themselves fallen short of the budgetary estimates by around 1.45 lakh crores and then if you see there are disinvestment receipts they also did not go well as planned they fell short of the budgetary estimates by 40,000 crore but where the government actually earned was from the non tax revenues that is in the form of revenue receipts where the government has nearly earned around 32,000 crore and apart from this we know that the RBA transferred around 1.76 lakh crore from its surplus to the government so all these measures somehow balance the fall in the receipts of the government. So the government concludes that the overall fall in receipts are not that much alarming. Here the author tells that even with such a shortfall the government has short prudence that is the government has tried not to cut the capital expenditure here the author tells that the capital expenditure for the current financial year turned out to be more than around 10,000 crores than the budgeted estimates which is a rise of 13.4% when compared to the previous year that is 2018-2019 and not just this as proposed in the union budget the capital expenditure is expected to rise by 18% in the upcoming financial year that is 2020-2021 when compared to the present financial year. Here the author tells that the capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 1.7% in this present financial year and this is projected to rise to 1.8% in the upcoming financial year which is 2021. We know that capital expenditure will create permanent assets and they will yield periodical income from those assets so the author tells that the government is spending more towards capital expenditure. So this is all about capital expenditure. Next if you see the author has discussed about revenue expenditure he tells that it is surprising that there is a fall in revenue expenditure around 98,000 crores this is mainly because of the reduction in the food subsidies if you remember some of the heads under the revenue expenditure include subsidies, pensions, salaries, then grants given to states and union territories, then grants given to foreign governments etc. So here the author tells that there is a fall in the revenue expenditure to the tune of 98,000 crores and this is mainly due to the reduction in food subsidies. So spending more on capital expenditure and less on revenue expenditure will be good for the well-being of the Indian economy when we see from long term perspective. So these are the author's views about capital expenditure and the revenue expenditure. Next the author has discussed about fiscal deficit before seeing the author's viewpoints on fiscal deficit let us see a news article which is related to the fiscal deficit. See the fiscal deficit target for the financial year 2019-2020 has been revised to 3.8 percentage similarly the projected fiscal deficit for the upcoming financial year that is 2020-2021 is 3.5 percentage of the GDP. So we can see that both these estimates are higher than the planned targets. If you remember we saw the basics about fiscal deficit it is nothing but an indication of the total borrowings that is needed by the government in order to meet its expenditure. Know that as per the FRBM Act of 2003 there are some targets set for the government of India to establish financial discipline in order to improve the management of public funds and to strengthen the fiscal prudence and reduce the deficits. But if you see there is a section under this FRBM Act of 2003 which provides for an escape clause which is section 4 as per this section a maximum deviation of 0.5 percentage from the fiscal deficit targets in certain conditions can be made like on the grounds of national security on the act of war or maybe because of structural reforms in the economy with unanticipated fiscal implications etc. So based on this clause the government has reset its fiscal deficit targets. So this is all about this news article now let us come back to the editorial which discusses on this fiscal deficit. Here in this editorial the author has told the situation as bite the bullet it means the government itself has decided to look at this unpleasant situation which is seen as unavoidable. Here the author is of the opinion that this is not a fault. Why because the budget has not compromised anywhere on the capital expenditure without compromising the government has altered its fiscal deficit targets. So he is telling that it is not a fault but he tells that there is yet another issue where the government needs to work. If you look at this union budget the projected growth in the net tax revenue to the central government is 8.7 percentage which is reasonable. So this is all about the author's views on the receipts part then the expenditure part and also about the fiscal deficit targets. Next the author has touched upon the disinvestment targets of the budget. So as per this union budget 2020-2021 the government expects a disinvestment target of 2.1 lakh crore. Now if you look at this target it is more than thrice the receipts of 65,000 crore in financial year 2019-2020. Now as per this news article the union budget has projected receipts of around 1.2 lakh crore from disinvestment in public sector undertakings and then it has also projected receipts of around 90,000 crore from disinvestment in LIC and IDBA bank. Here the author is of the opinion that the plan to disinvest LIC and IDBA bank will raise many issues because we know that LIC is an important player in the stock market and LIC is also an important investor in the capital of public sector banks. So selling governments taken LIC to investors might compromise the larger role played by it in the economy. So the author suggests that this plan should be referred to a parliamentary committee. Also the sale price of IDBA shares will be good only if the bank shows a significant improvement in profit. So that the government will be really able to meet its disinvestment targets. Now this is an issue because if the disinvestment estimates are not met then it would further upset the projected fiscal deficit because one side the expenditures will be growing but receipts will not be coming. We have already said that the projected fiscal deficit for the upcoming financial year is 3.5% of GDP and now the government has already used the escape clause under the FRBM Act. So if disinvestment targets are not met then it will bring financial instability. So the author tells that the FRBM target of a fiscal deficit of 3% of the government becomes more elusive. So the author cautions the government related to disinvestment in this matter. So somehow the government has tried to revive the growth by allocating more for capital expenditure. Now let us look at the second part which is the introduction of structural economic reforms. Here the author has told that the budget has fell short of the expectations. See we have been hearing the news about structural issues within the Indian economy some of them have also been mentioned in the economic survey 2019-2020. It has suggested reforms in the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 to give more importance to the market and to reduce the harassment of traders by the authorities. Then if you look at the survey it also suggested reforms in certain government regulations that have resulted in increase in price of certain essential drugs. But if you look all these things were not discussed or mentioned in the budget. Apart from this we know that a public sector banking system is not performing. In fact it is under performing except the sale of IDBA. This budget is silent about reforming the public sector banking. And if you remember we also know about the non-banking financial companies issue in India where many NBFCs are under stress. Like there was a complete failure of ILNFS following the credit crunch. But if you look at the budget these issues have not been addressed. So the results that the government needs to focus more on bringing in more structural economic reforms. The author has concluded this editorial by telling that both the economic survey 2019-2020 and the union budget 2020-2021 follows a similar path of economic surveys and budgets of the last two years. That is emphasizing more on the role of markets than increasing the private investment and trying to reduce the role of the government. But if you look these results have not yielded much of results to the government. So the author hopes that at least this budget will help in bringing some changes that is needed for our economy. So this is all about this editorial. In this editorial we have seen about the author's comments on the receipts and expenditures of the government. And then where the author has spoken about the fiscal deficit targets and the disinvestment targets. And finally about the need for more structural economic reforms. And in between we also saw a news article related to the fiscal deficit targets proposed by the finance minister in the union budget. With this editorial discussion we have covered the major portions of the union budget. Now let us look at one more editorial related to the union budget where the author has focused mainly on the drawbacks of the budget. Let us try to take three important criticisms given by the author. First the author has told that this union budget failed to keep the FRBM targets for fiscal discipline. Next the author tells that the disinvestment targets of the governments are quite huge and it is not easy for the government to realize the targets. And finally the author tells that the fall in the revenue expenditure, especially in central sector and central sponsored schemes might impact the fund flow to several domains including agriculture irrigation, rural development and health. So the author is telling that a fall in the central funding means it will put more pressure on the state governments to spend more on these projects. So the author tells that a fall in revenue expenditure is not welcome. As we just saw earlier, revenue expenditure includes subsidies, the grants given to states and union territories. So this is all about the discussion of this editorial. Now let us discuss a news article and a portion of editorial which discusses about the announcement made in the union budget related to the increase in the insurance cover of bank deposits. See the individuals can deposit money in the banks in the form of savings account. So there will be an insurance cover for these deposits. Since 1993 till now the insurance cover for bank deposits remain the same at 1 lakh rupees. Now in this union budget the government has decided to increase this insurance cover from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. So it has permitted the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation to increase the deposit insurance coverage of a depositor from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. So in this context you need to know about the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation. See it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. It has been established as per the provisions of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act of 1961. So the main purpose of this corporation is to handle the insurance of deposits and to guarantee credit facilities and other related matters. So know that Deposit Insurance is being managed by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation which is wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. Now if you look at this editorial it tells that this decision to increase the Deposit Insurance have made the people who save money and also the investors happy. Because at present we can see that the banking sector is facing many issues and it is also performing. There are defaults of payments for example like the Nirav Modi Punjab National Bank case, then Malaya case and then if you see there was also restrictions on deposit withdrawals in certain banks like Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank and such other related issues. So now this decision by the government is likely to boost the sentiments of those people who are saving the money in the banking system. This is all about the discussion of this news article and editorial related to insurance cover. Additionally know that this Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation ensures all bank deposit like savings deposit then fixed deposit then current account and recurring accounts. So now this DICGC Act will be amended in order to increase the deposit cover from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. So this is about the discussion of Deposit Insurance cover. Next let us look at the final news article of the day which is related to the sharing of the tax proceeds between center and the state governments. See during the union budget the 15th finance commission tabled its interim report in parliament. So in this context let us see in brief about the finance commission. See the finance commission is constituted under article 280 of the constitution by the president of India. It is a constitutional body. See there are various functions of finance commission. One of the major function of finance commission is to make recommendations to the president regarding the distribution of tax proceeds between the center and the states and the share of the tax proceeds between each state. So one of the major recommendations is related to tax devolution that is nothing but the distribution of taxes between the central government and the state governments and amongst the state government themselves. Now if you look at the distribution of tax that happens between the center and the state this distribution is called as vertical devolution and distribution of taxes that happens amongst the states themselves is known as horizontal devolution. So know this concept of vertical devolution. During the union budget the 15th finance commission tabled its interim report in the parliament which is the news. If you look at this report it is only for the current financial year that is for the financial year 2020-2021. The finance commission is expected to submit its final report for the next five years that is from the financial years 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. By the month of October this year know that the finance commission report is laid as per article 281 of Indian constitution. So as per this article the president shall lay the finance commission report before each house of the parliament. Now if you look at this news article in the interim report the finance commission has recommended a reduction of one percentage of the net proceeds of the union taxes for the states that is nothing but the vertical devolution. So the rates have been reduced from 42 percentage to 41 percentage. Now why the reduction in rates is because in August the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh. Since Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories now their financial affairs will be administered by the union ministry of home so there is a reduction of one percentage. But if you see the states are going to receive the same amount of funds as they were receiving earlier since the number of states is now 28 instead of 29. So there is a reduction on the number of states based on which a one person reduction in the vertical devolution has been recommended by the finance commission. So during the budget speech the union finance minister has announced that the government has accepted the recommendations of the finance commission. So this is all you need to know from this news article. Here one thing that you need to note is that the recommendations made by the finance commission are only of advisory nature and they are not binding on the government. So it is up to the union government to implement its recommendations on granting money to the states. So this is the reason why the news article tells that the union finance minister has accepted the recommendations made by the 15th finance commission. With this we come to the end of the analysis of the union budget to summarize we saw the basic concepts of government budgeting and then we saw about the concept of fiscal deficit. Then we saw the main theme of this union budget. Next we saw some news articles and editorials which discussed about the tax revenues like the income tax then cooperative societies tax which all comes under the revenue of the government. And then we saw few editorials and news articles which discussed the receipts and the expenditure of the government as proposed in the union budget. And finally we saw certain news articles related to the union budget. It is quite challenging to cover all the news articles which are related to union budget in one session. We have tried to give you an overall understanding about the union budget in this session. And always remember there will be further news articles and editorials which discusses about the impact of the proposals mentioned in the union budget in the forthcoming days. So we shall be touching upon more sections of the union budget in detail in the future. So try to know the concepts that we have discussed today and try to relate the concepts from our today's discussion. With this we come to the end of this session. Now have a look at some prelims questions which were asked in the UPSC preliminary examinations in the previous years. We shall discuss all these questions in one of our future sessions. The answers for these questions are highlighted in bold. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share. And do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.