Budget 2022: Why the budget speech makes for a bad WhatsApp forward – Newslaundry

During the months of February and March, assembly elections are scheduled in five states. Despite this, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a very thanda – for the lack of a better word – budget speech. This wasn’t expected. Political experts and Delhi journalists were expecting her to make a very political speech, with a lot of giveaways for potential voters built in.But that wasn’t the case.Sitharaman used the word “drone” four times in the speech and the word “digital” 36 times. But none of these usages was in a context that can be turned into an easy-to-read and understandable WhatsApp forward, through which much of the narrative is driven these days. These forwards drive the way people figure out things in their head.Let’s look at the usage of the word “digital” in some detail. It was used in the context of developing a central bank digital currency, a digital university to provide world-class quality universal education and to tax cryptos. None of these are things which would get the average voter immediately excited. The word “youth” was used six times. Again in contexts which wouldn’t excite people.Or take the case of the word “employment” that was used six times in…
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