COVID mishandling foretold in the Budget
Updated:
Updated:
May 12, 2021 01:47 IST
That the government did not come up with a detailed ‘COVID-19 Emergency’ Budget for the year 2021-22 is telling
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That the government did not come up with a detailed ‘COVID-19 Emergency’ Budget for the year 2021-22 is telling
“India has begun medically safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19 but also those of 100 or more countries. I have provided ₹35,000 crores for Covid-19 vaccine in BE 2021-22...,” was the bombastic claim made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech to the nation on February 1, 2021.
Ms. Sitharaman assured the nation that her government at the Centre was protecting not only Indians but also people of other countries against COVID-19 and that she had provided enough money. She also boasted that the overall Budget for health had been increased substantially and pointed to details in Annexure I of the Budget speech. In Annexure I, a table under ‘Health and Wellbeing – Expenditure’ lists ₹35,000 crore for ‘Vaccination’ under ‘CoVID related Special Provisions’.