Does the Union Budget 2014 lack focus on the poor By Deepak Parvatiyar July 17, 2014 Any government’s budget that misses focus on the poor cannot be termed as progressive. The thrust for a developing economy needs to be on programmes for poverty alleviation. This requires a holistic approach enshrined in the fundamentals of the welfare state and not ad-hocism and populist measures. A mix of growth and increase in social spending to ensure basic means for the poorest of the poor has to be the pre-requisite of budget. It is in this light that the very first budget of the Narendra Modi government should be analysed. Confusion persists on poverty figures Yet, any pro-poor budget needs to first have a well-accepted definition of poor in place. During the UPA regime, the image of the Planning Commission was sullied with its controversial definition of poverty line. It repeatedly erred on fixing the poverty line by following a controversial method. In July last year, it fin
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