ANXIETY DOUBLES THIS FEBRUARY (11/02/2016)

Anxiety increases among people in general and Government servants in particular in the month of February- this being the month when the Railway Minister presents the railway budget followed by the Finance Minister who places the General Budget for the next financial year in the Parliament. This year the impending implementation of the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission Report has added spice to this anxiety.

Last year the Railway Minister did well to de-link announcement of new trains with the presentation of Railway Budget. It was a welcome step as such announcements, off late, had taken the form of dole, reminding one of the largesse extended by royals of yester years among his subjects. Railway needs a major revamping on the one hand and improvement in basic facilities on the other. There is an urgent need for macro as well as micro-reforms in Indian Railways.  

However, more than the Railway Budget it is the General Budget that is awaited eagerly with fingers crossed. An important feature of this annual exercise is it increases taxation in some commodities and decreases it in other causing direct or indirect benefit to a section of society. “The rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes”. (Andrew Jackson)

By announcing enhanced allocation for various social security schemes for the poor, the Government also tries to project its humane face, though it is always advisable to teach a person fishing (“Skill India” Scheme) rather than arrange a fish for him every day (MNREGA). Yet successive Governments embark on populist measures and it is same this year as well with increased allocation for MNREGA. It is high time other initiatives of the present Government like the “Make in India”, “Digital India”, “Start-up India” start up showing results as these can change the face of India if implemented properly. Why I sound a word of caution is because one such initiative the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan” lies in tatters today right here in New Delhi with Delhi sitting on pile of garbage- thanks to the tussle between the Central and the State Government.
 

Wherever you go these days, people can be seen engaged in animated discussion on what the General Budget should be like- in India everyone, even a beggar on the street, becomes an economist in the month of February with a ready prescription to cure the Indian economy. And the Indian Economy remains in the state of perceptual crisis- at least this is what I have inferred from these debates. Such animated discussion often helps break the lull of a bore journey and adds spice to a routine life. These days I enjoy such lively debates on General Budget as a mute onlooker. I then realize the burden of expectations and the associated tremendous responsibilities on the shoulders of the Finance Minister of India and pray to God that He give him a magic wand to solve all the economic issues of the nation. I wait for that dawn. That will also be the day when the Indian Economy will shed the crutches of a good monsoon and come out healthy without the support of a good monsoon.