Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in India in May 2014 ardently promising -- like so many chest-thumping leaders elsewhere in the world -- that he would create jobs. The angry and under-employed young people of heavily populated north India, in particular, decided to trust a man who sold himself as a strong, sound steward of the economy.
But if you listened to his government’s fourth annual budget this week, you’d think a totally different Modi had been elected.
In India, the budget is meant to be a roadmap to economic policy, not just a statement of accounts. This one, however, was little more than an exercise in damage control. The budget had a long list of giveaways and government programs -- needed, perhaps, given how badly the government's decision to withdraw 86 percent of India's currency from circulation has hurt the economy -- but little in the way of genuine, job-creating reform.
But if you listened to his government’s fourth annual budget this week, you’d think a totally different Modi had been elected.
In India, the budget is meant to be a roadmap to economic policy, not just a statement of accounts. This one, however, was little more than an exercise in damage control. The budget had a long list of giveaways and government programs -- needed, perhaps, given how badly the government's decision to withdraw 86 percent of India's currency from circulation has hurt the economy -- but little in the way of genuine, job-creating reform.
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