Traders shout and argue outside the BSE building. (Photographer: Santosh Verma/Bloomberg News)
I am getting alarmed at the pre-budget chatter. There is talk of imposing a Covid-cess to suck in extra revenue. Picking up clever leaks, pink papers have begun labelling it a “Keynes-inspired expenditure budget” where big outlays on healthcare and infrastructure will “bootstrap our economy back to growth”. On cue, the commentariat is revving up a tiny but rising applause, how “an unprecedented infrastructure push under the New Deal ...