The Hindu Business Line : From cats & dogs, to instant food mixes... FM sails through

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New Delhi Feb. 28 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, had a fairly easy ride in Parliament on Wednesday while delivering his Budget speech, particularly when compared to the noisy Opposition protests that Mr Lalu Prasad had to face during Railway Budget just two days ago.

In all, there were about three-four occasions when, driven by increase in decibel levels from the Opposition, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, had to intervene with: "Please. Please. What has happened?" and "Please... This is not fair. You will get your chance! Please sit down."

In an otherwise well-articulated speech, some comic relief was provided by an amused FM, when he talked about a relief for pet-lovers by reducing duty on imported food for cats and dogs. He carried it further while announcing duty cuts for all instant food mixes, when he pointed out, in a clear reference to last year's budget that he is no longer partial to idli and dosa mix (did he forget pasta?).

Finding support

Dressed in his trademark white veshti and a light brown shawl, the FM was supported by his fellow Ministers and Members of Parliament, when he announced LIC's Aam Admi Bima Yojna, road-cum-rail bridge projects for Bihar and Assam, National Housing Board's reverse mortgage scheme for senior citizens, increase in expenditure for defence and e-governance, increase in exemptions, duty cuts for diesel, among others.

Like his previous budget speeches, he quoted the Tamil Saint Tiruvalluvar this year as well and ended his speech by quoting Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus.

Towards the end of his speech, when he listed the "achievements of UPA Government," the Opposition protested loudly with "No! No! Nothing for the aam admi (common man)!"

Industry reactions

And as he finished, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, were amongst the first ones to congratulate him.

Meanwhile, in the event organised by Confederation of Indian Industry, as the industry captains watched the FM's budget speech on huge screens, all camerapersons from media climbed to the podium (from where they could directly see the CEOs) and clicked continuously, trying to capture each mood with every announcement. Similarly, at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry honchos were busy jotting down points.

Though there were no sharp, impromptu reactions from industry, as they watched the FM speak, they did laugh during the Opposition protests and references to cats and dogs; and instant mixes.

In both chambers, the industry heads were running between various camera crews and temporary studios of several TV channels, as the latter competed to get the first reactions.