India’s Budget 2004-05: A Disappointing Blend C.P. Chandrasekhar

Caught between the election mandate that required it to redirect economic policy in favour of the poor and the fiscal conservatism underlying the prevailing neo-liberal mindset, India’s new Congress-led government seems to have adopted the soft option: it has dressed the budget in pro-poor rhetoric, but chosen not to implement what it claims it has set out to do.

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