On 29 February, India’s finance minister, P Chidambaram, announced the country’s 2008-09 budget. The package contained many gifts to the lower and middle classes – raised exemption caps on income taxes, slashed excise duties, double-digit spending hikes in health and education, and a swath of populist initiatives. But perhaps the most significant measure is a farm loan waiver of Rs600 billion (US$15 billion) that will wipe away some of the debt of India’s 40 million farmers. The giveaway was widely viewed as a plea for votes in national elections that will come no later than next year.
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