The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will today present his third budget to the Lok Sabha.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his monthly radio address to give students tips for upcoming Board exams.
3. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi have been booked with sedition after a complaint filed in Hyderabad in connection with the Jawaharlal Nehru University row.

The Big Story: Budget Blues

In some ways, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is not going to get another opportunity like this. His challenge, going into his third budget, mid-way through Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure, is immense. But he also goes into the year on the back of a massive drop in oil prices that has allowed India to get into a comfortable fiscal space and now he knows how much the government will need to spend on the 7th Pay Commission recommendations on salaries for public sector employees. Crucially, there are no major elections on the horizon, at least for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

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Consider the circumstances of the two Budgets that will follow. Next year's will come right ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and elsewhere, making it extremely hard to take any painful decisions. And the one after will likely be the Modi government's last major considered policy push ahead of the 2019 general elections, not counting last-minute freebies. Both of those documents are going to come with massive political pressures.

Today, Jaitley is mostly facing economic stress. The investment cycle still needs to be jump-started, banks continue to face massive amounts of stress and the rural economy is crying out for help. Indications suggest that Modi wants to make a pivot to India's farmers and villagers, ensuring that the impression of a suit-boot sarkar only focused on the urban rich doesn't get cemented.

But this also seems like the finance minister's last chance to make some difficult decisions – beyond sticking to the fiscal consolidation path – involving subsidies, taxes and entitlements. Considering the Modi government's two big legislative projects, the Land Acquisition amendment and the Goods and Services Tax Bill are both in limbo, will Jaitley's third budget make any headway on the grand reform and development promises Modi rode in on?

The Big Scroll
Budgets can no longer make or break Indian businesses. Then why all the fuss, asks Mohan Guruswamy. This is Arun Jaitley's most difficult decision yet as finance minister. And the Economic Adviser points out, for Arun Jaitley's third budget to work, it will need a key component – Modi's good luck.

Policying & Politicking
1. Haryana Police have finally registered a First Information Report in the alleged rapes in Murthal in connection with the Jat violence.
2. Former Home Secretary GK Pillai said it was Congress leader P Chidambaram, an ex-Home Minister, who ordered the ministry to withdraw intelligence inputs connecting Ishrat Jahan to the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
3. More than two dozen members of the US House of Representatives have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying India's minorities are under threat.
4. A condolence meet for a Vishwa Hindu Parishad worker in Agra turned into a rally where Muslims were called "demons" against whom the Sangh Parivar was planning a "final battle".
5. The controversial Inspector General of Bastar now thinks that JNU student Umar Khalid might have had something to do with the attack on tribal rights activist Soni Sori.

Punditry
1. TCA Srinivasa Raghavan in the Business Standard asks the prime minister to also present an annual report on the state of politics and society.
2. Manas Chakravarty in Mint examines the Chief Economic Adviser's master plan for the Indian economy.
3. An Indian Express leader reminds us that the performance of the states matters just as much as the Centre when it comes to the Indian economy.

Don't Miss
Rashna-Imhasly Gandhy offers a psychological explanation of how exiled Sita went from victim to witness.

Sita is symbolic of an archetype that is dimly seen or recognised in our society today. Having achieved a voice of her own, and a need for equal opportunities, does not mean that it translates into full equality and respectful relationships. In other words, the archetype of the “sacred feminine” is still culturally repressed. Patriarchy does not honour the feminine principle of relatedness; the values that foster care and protection that are equally available to all members of society – the young, old, poor, physically disadvantaged, or those disadvantaged by virtue of caste, creed and gender.