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Every Budget claims to speak for the “aam aadmi”. Union Budget 2026 is no different. It arrives wrapped in the language of kartavya—duty to growth, duty to aspiration, duty to inclusion. The language sounds reassuring, almost moral. Yet for most households, the more relevant question is simpler and more immediate: what changes tomorrow morning? For a large section of Indians, the answer remains familiar. Not much. The Budget preserves macroeconomic stability and policy continuity, but once again asks citizens to wait—for better jobs, for income security and for growth to translate into everyday relief.
Growth Numbers vs Household Reality
The government projects strong GDP growth and macroeconomic stability. But growth
figures do not pay EMIs. They do not create secure jobs. They do not reduce household
anxiety. Since 2014, India has seen rising informal employment, stagnant real wages,
shrinking household savings and increasing dependence on credit for daily consumption.
Union Budget 2026 does little to alter this trajectory. Growth is pursued through capital
expenditure and infrastructure expansion, but job creation remains indirect and uncertain. For a young graduate, growth still means waiting. For a salaried employee, it means working more for the same purchasing power.
No Real Relief for the Salaried Class
For the salaried middle class, the Budget offers predictability—but not relief. There are no
meaningful changes to direct tax slabs, cost-of-living pressures, or rising education and
healthcare expenses. Indirect taxes continue to quietly do the heavy lifting. Inflation may be “moderate” on paper, but families know the truth at grocery stores, pharmacies and school fee counters. Budget discipline is maintained, but at the cost of household breathing space.
Employment: Aspirations Without Security
The Budget speaks repeatedly about skills, skilling missions and employability. What it
avoids is employment security. Post-2014, India’s labour market has shifted decisively
towards contractual work, gig employment and short-term engagements without social
protection. Union Budget 2026 continues this pattern. It invests in skill production without
strengthening labour rights. For millions of young Indians, this translates into permanent
uncertainty—trained, qualified, but disposable.
Farmers and Rural India: Schemes Without Stability
Farmers appear prominently in Budget announcements. Transfers continue. Schemes expand. But income stability remains elusive. Agricultural distress is no longer episodic—it is structural. Input costs rise faster than returns. Climate stress intensifies. Market volatility
remains unaddressed. The Budget manages rural distress through targeted schemes rather
than addressing the deeper problem: unpredictable incomes and weak price security. For rural families, Budget 2026 offers assistance—but not assurance.
Welfare as Management, Not Protection
Across sectors—women, Divyangjan, informal workers, regional populations—the approach
is consistent: targeted schemes instead of universal protections. This marks a clear post-2014 trend. Welfare has moved from being a right to being a benefit. Access is conditional.
Coverage is fragmented. Continuity depends on administrative discretion. For the common
citizen, this means welfare feels uncertain, temporary and revocable—not guaranteed.
Infrastructure Everywhere, Security Nowhere
Highways, corridors, railways, logistics hubs—these dominate Budget narratives.
Infrastructure is visible, photographable and politically rewarding. What is less visible is job
security, healthcare affordability, pension certainty and old-age protection. Infrastructure
builds the economy of tomorrow. But the common Indian lives today. Union Budget 2026
invests heavily in future capacity while asking citizens to continue absorbing present risk.
A Decade-Long Pattern, Not a One-Year Exception
This Budget is not an aberration. It fits a clear post-2014 pattern—growth without
redistribution, discipline without relief, aspiration without protection, schemes instead of
rights. Economic management has become about endurance—asking citizens to stay patient while outcomes are perpetually deferred.
The Honest Question
Union Budget 2026 is not disastrous. It is also not transformative. It keeps the system
stable—but stability for whom? For corporations and capital, the framework is predictable.
For the State, fiscal control is preserved. For the common Indian, life remains expensive,
work remains insecure, and the future remains postponed. The real issue is not whether India can grow. It is whether growth will ever be designed to reduce everyday anxiety, rather than merely improve aggregate numbers. Until that question is addressed, budgets will continue to sound confident—while households continue to feel fragile.
Syed Aqib Hussain is an Advocate practising before the High Court of J&K and Ladakh, and a Doctoral Scholar at SCALSAR, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.