India, Feb. 7 -- A Union budget represents a moral guide, a political direction, and an economic plan combined into a single entity. It informs citizens not just of the government's planned expenditures, but also of who it aims to support. Budget 2026, unfortunately, achieves none of these effectively. It was a budget of polish without proof, numbers without nuance, announcements without answers. It speaks in majestic visions but murmurs on delivery. It promises confidence, yet avoids commitment. It declares intent, but evades impact. In a period when the Indian economy faces declining private investment, pressured exports despite trade deals, weak employment, and increasing household hardship, this budget opts for distance rather than decisiveness. This budget is filled with slogans, lacking in fairness, and noticeably quiet about pain. Let us start with the strict rigour of figures. The most notable, and sadly, absurd aspect of the budget is a calculation that fails to tally correctly. In 2025-26, revenue receipts were short by Rs.78,086 crore, while total expenditure was short by Rs.1,00,503 crore. Even more troubling, capital expenditure, crucial for growth, was cut by Rs.1,44,376 crore, comprising Rs.25,335 crore at the Centre and an alarming Rs.1,19,041 crore at the state level. This does not reflect financial caution; it signifies financial withdrawal. The Centre's capital spending dropped from 3.2% of GDP in 2024-25 to 3.1% in 2025-26, with no clarification provided in the finance minister's address. When growth decelerates, governments should aim to spend more wisely rather than retreat quietly. Budgets might communicate in percentages, yet citizens experience in absolutes. The budget compels me to believe that the present government focuses on cutting more in areas where it hurts the most. The sharpest axe has fallen not on administrative excess, but on sectors that touch ordinary lives. Rural development allocations were cut by Rs.53,067 crore, urban development by Rs.39,573 crore, social welfare by Rs.9,999 crore, agriculture by Rs.6,985 crore, education by Rs.6,701 crore, and health by Rs.3,686 crore. As far as fiscal targets are concerned, there is prudence in name, but drift in practice. The budget shows timidity, verging on complacency, when it comes to budgetary consolidation. The budget deficit is expected to decrease by a meagre 0.1 percentage point in 2026-2027, although it will still be 4.4% of GDP in 2025-2026. The revenue deficit stagnates at 1.5%. After years of citing the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act like a hallowed document, the administration now considers it as optional reading. The middle class is taxed by silence. Perhaps the most glaring miss of this budget is what it refuses to say to India's middle class. There is no income-tax relief, no slab rationalisation, and no inflation indexing. In effect, the government has allowed the fiscal drag to quietly raise the tax burden without legislative change. When prices rise and slabs don't, taxation becomes stealthy, not stable. The salaried class - paying EMIs, school fees, and hospital bills - heard only silence in a speech that ran into hours. For them, this budget was like an ATM where the screen lights up but cash does not come out. The situation is compounded by policy signals that unsettle financial savers, a sharp Securities Transaction Tax (STT) hike on futures and options, removal of interest deduction on dividend and mutual fund income, tighter capital gains exemptions on sovereign gold bonds, and unfavourable taxation of share buybacks. Together, these moves erode trust in the very instruments meant to deepen household participation in capital markets. Markets speak in points. And when indices fall sharply, it is not opposition rhetoric, it is market cross-examination. The Economic Survey 2025-26 had flagged around a dozen major economic challenges, from stressed exports due to US tariffs, from low gross fixed capital formation (hovering around 30% of GDP) to persistent FDI uncertainty and FPI outflows, to the closure of lakhs of MSMEs and rising youth unemployment. None of these received serious policy attention in the budget speech. MSMEs are offered slogans but no credible rescue plan. Urban India, strained by rapid migration and crumbling municipal infrastructure, is acknowledged rhetorically and abandoned fiscally. Workers are thanked, but not supported; farmers are praised, but not protected. The budget shows enthusiasm only in announcing new schemes. By a conservative count, there are at least 24 new missions, funds, institutes, hubs, and committees. Experience suggests many will quietly vanish before the next budget. Parliament was given announcements, not answers; slogans, not schedules. There are sparks, though scattered. The enhanced defence outlay reflects an understanding that national security cannot be postponed to fiscal convenience. Strategic intent is also visible in rare-earth corridors, semiconductor Mission 2.0, and biopharma initiatives, which are a few sectors where India must compete on capability, not merely cost. These are not trivial gestures; they acknowledge India's role in a fractured, technology-driven world. There are certain additional strategic advantages in the budget, which are indeed commendable, including AI intent, tax certainty for cloud and data centres till 2047, and encouragement for green energy. However, the deeper misses are not made up for by these hits. A budget must be assessed by the clarity of its selections. The standard of economic strategy and economic statesmanship is not met by this budget. It ignores the Bharat that is currently experiencing inflation while promising Viksit Bharat. India does not lack resources, it lacks prioritisation. Ignoring inflation in a tax system is not reform; rather, it is inertia disguised as caution. Ultimately, this budget would have a huge fiscal deficit if clarity were a currency. India deserves a budget of substance, not a curriculum of buzzwords....