Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman's 'Stress Test' and Macroeconomic Challenges Ahead Clarity and a plan relying on the actualisation (and not promise) of job-creation, along with higher wages for workers across sectors are the needs of the hour. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Photo: Twitter/@nsitharaman Economy20/Jan/2021 With less than two weeks left for the Union Budget to be presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the state of the Indian economy continues to be grim, even if a return to normalcy is around the corner. Over the last year, the economy has battled three crises â a pandemic, an economic meltdown, and a deep erosion in social and public trust as articulated in a long-drawn-out protest by farmers against the new farm laws.