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Though they’re neither breadwinners nor tax payers, teenagers are grumbling that the new budget has affected them as much as their beleaguered parents. With a hike in the cost of ‘teen-essentials’ like cosmetics, petrol and cigarettes’ they’re having to ‘be adult’ about it and cut down on expenses, make budgets or bargain with their parents for a raise in their allowances.

Ajay Mehta, a student at Badruka college travels from Gachibowli in a Maruti car and is bracing himself for a rise in his monthly fuel bill, “I will certainly be feeling the pinch. Even though it is just two rupees per litre, it adds up. Since I get an allowance from my parents, I will have to re-work my expenditure. I recently had an increase in my allowance and asking for a few hundred rupees extra will be difficult.”
“The latest union budget that everybody is so gung-ho about is a pain for teenagers,” moans Jayant Ramanand, 19, Symbiosis School of Economics, “The hike in petrol prices by Rs 2-3 per litre comes to over Rs 600 a month. When I asked my folks to give me a separate petrol allowance, they told me to cut down on my travel. Now I have to walk a whole lot more than before and my bike is used less often.”
“There were already so many planned expenditures and controls over my savings during the recession. With hikes in commodities like cosmetics, I will have to watch where my allowance goes.” says Tejaswini Suri a class XI student from Obul Reddy school.
“I stay in the hostel and getting out for those late night drives are going to be a whole lot more expensive. I dread asking my folks to send in more money. Dating has become an expensive proposition as well with a hike in taxes on food and beverages. Where do I go and hang out for cheap?” wonders Anmol Soin, 19 from St Xavier’s College.
Still, there is a silver lining for some. Kanan Tilwani, a student at St Mary’s, is very pleased at the hike in the price of cigarettes, “Most of my friends smoke after college and it becomes a nuisance to hang out with them because I hate the smell of it. If prices go up my friends will cut down on cigarettes and hopefully my chances of passive smoking will also decrease.”

Devashree Goenka
The Asian Age