Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the first budget of the third Narendra Modi government next week. In terms of overall fiscal management, after facing a shock during the pandemic, the central government is on a steady path of fiscal consolidation. But what matters for macroeconomic management is the general government finances. Though most of the expansion happened at the Union level, states also need to put their house in order. Government finance—both at the Centre and states—must be brought in order at the earliest, the top edit says here, while Janak Raj and Aashi Gupta explain why central government finances need greater focus on the revenue side. Read it here
In other views:
Ajay Kumar makes the case for defence reforms 3.0. Read it here
The second edit says investing in R&D on electric mobility will reduce import dependence. Read it here