It's fundamental.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to unveil her ninth Budget on 1 February and "The key sectors to look out for this year include railways, infrastructure, urban development, manufacturing, auto, defense, electronics MSME, renewable energy and AI among others." Mint. It may require an urgent last-minute fiscal adjustment as, "The Supreme Court has ruled that the right to menstrual hygiene is an integral part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution." "A bench of Justice LB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed all states and Union territories to ensure that every school provides biodegradable sanitary napkins free of cost to adolescent girls." nowsonair.gov.in. Why only adolescent girls? If it is a right to life then all women should be provided. After all, the government is providing free food grains to 813.5 million people for five years, starting 1 January 2024, at a cost of Rs 11.80 trillion. pib.gov.in. The right to travel is a fundamental right. "The Modi government ran up a bill of Rs 356.7 million in 2018-19 for the upkeep of 27 'ghost' airports from where no flights take off, an RTI query has revealed. These 27 are among a total of 31 non-operational airports in the country. There are another 15 that are operational but no scheduled flights operate from there." The Print. Operational, zero flight airports serve the fundamental right of not to travel. Railways are a key sector. "A delay of over four years pushed up the cost of the country's first bullet train project by around 83% to Rs 1.98 trillion. TOI. And so, "The Indian Railways has told the Central Information Commission (CIC) that its methodology for calculating passenger train fares is a matter of 'trade secret' and commercial confidence, and, therefore, it cannot be disclosed under the Right to Information Act (RTI)." ET. Since earnings are finite, train fare may impinge on our budget for food, clothing and healthcare which are fundamental rights. On 27 January, a viral video "shows a crowd of passengers squeezing into a Vande Bharat train in Bihar, allegedly without tickets." "Vande Bharat services are fully ticketed and positioned as a premium offering by the Railways, making the scene especially jarring for many viewers." TIE. If the pricing of tickets is a "trade secret" people of Bihar will decide what they want to pay. "If China's official numbers and India's official projections were to be compared, just Uttar Pradesh and Bihar together now have more births than all of China, even though the population of the two Indian states taken together is just 26% of China's 1.41 billion." HT. Exercising their fundamental right to consummate. FM Sitharaman said India's macroeconomic fundamentals are "stronger than ever". ET. Not just economic. We know all our fundamentals.