No populist Budget, hints Jaitley

New Delhi, January 30

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government was not against subsidies, but maintained these were meant for the needy and not the wealthy. The remarks come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of rationalising and targeting such benefits.

He indicated that his upcoming Budget will not resort to “sheer populism” for good ratings, but will focus on structural reforms.

He hoped the Congress will “see reason” and help pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. “The Prime Minister had a valid point and the valid point is at the end of the day, the government per se is not against the concept of subsidies,” he said while speaking at a programme here.

With 25 per cent of the people below the poverty line, a large section of population was entitled to cheap food while the farm sector stress too had to be supported, he said. “If you look at the whole structure of the Indian economy, its agriculture sector, particularly in the past two years due to the poor monsoon, has been stressed. You need to put funds in that particular sector. Therefore, there would be targeted subsidy,” he said. — PTI