The longest budget speech in the history of India has artfully outlined the three themes of growth in an

attempt to draw the Indian economy out of the clutches of economic slowdown. The theme
‘Aspirational India’ entails Agriculture, education and healthcare. With a whopping 2.83 lakh crores
allocated to the agri-sector to facilitate a major thrust on investments through road and railways, the
Government has brought a structural reform approach and fiscal prudence rather than a short term,
quick fix solution to the economy’s woes. With a 16-point action plan targeted to boost farming and
allied activities, the Government has promoted a durable growth revival for the agriculture sector with a
focus on boosting farm productivity through cold storage and diversification of farmer’s income. Equally
notable is the plan to rope in NABARD to map and geo-tag warehouses, where in the Government will
implement VGF (Viability Gap Funding) in PPP model and provide financial support to private partners
for setting up warehouses till the project becomes sustainable. However, given the fact that agriculture
is a state subject and that the State governments may be reluctant to accept the various Government
schemes, the proposition to double farmer’s income by 2022 seems a little far -fetched. The initiatives to
boost the education sector include a year internship for engineering students with Municipal bodies to
plan and build better engineers and a digitally enabled degree level online programs to ensure that the
deprives sections are imparted quality education. With an overall 99,300 crore allocation for the
education sector and a unique initiative to introduce Ind-SAT examination to make India a favored
destination of higher education for Asian and African students, the budget has elevated hopes for more
to come up in the National Education Policy which will be launched soon. The Ayushmann Bharat, having
completed its one year of inception has been able to attract private hospitals. Going a step further, the
mission will focus on those districts out of the 112 aspirational districts, where there are no empaneled
Ayushmann hospitals. Coupled with this initiative, a viability gap funding through the PPP model is a
welcome step as it will ensure that the private resources are brought into the wheels of economic
growth to spur the wheels of development through speedier and cost effective execution of heavy and
key projects.

The budget has presented some initiatives to pump-prime the economy. However, the big band
announcements that were expected to revive the economy are clearly missing, thus disappointing a few
people. With expectations of radical changes slashed by the Union Budget 2020 and a clear focus on a
delayed yet sustainable solution for the economic slowdown, the path to recovery seems delayed, yet
attainable

Sahakar Nagar 24 12
Datta Nagar 3 3
Dhanakwadi 19 13
Kondwa 7 3
Salisbury 12 8
Datta Nagar 17 11
Bibwewadi 15 8
Kalepadal 11 4
Handewadi
Road 21 17
Krishna Nagar 26 19
Mantri Market 3 1
Total Stores
Added-158
Stores Billed-
99
Overall
Productivity
Index during
the stint:
62.65%
Outlets added
during training
in Karve
Nagar- 36
Outlets
converted -28
Overall
Productivity
index for the
entire stint:
65.46