Another dreary, tepid, timid Budget

At the very beginning of his speech, Yashwant Sinha thanked the Prime Minister for giving him the opportunity to present yet another Budge...

At the very beginning of his speech, Yashwant Sinha thanked the Prime Minister for giving him the opportunity to present yet another Budget. Given that his third Budget was very much like his earlier two, thanks to the PM, proposals are indeed very much in order. Not that the PM knows any better. The onus for yet another Budget that does not address the pressing problems of our time must lie with the PM for this and for the fact that he has not provided the direction and guidance that would have led to a directional shift in the manner which our country is managed. Once again the deficit has shot up. The public debt has gone up by Rs 100,000 crore and the interest payments will go up by another Rs 10,000 crore.

The Finance Minister spoke about the fiscal logjam because of which almost 85 per cent of the Budget gets pre-committed to interest, subsidies, salaries, defence, etc, leaving little for development. Yet he refrained from attempting to break the logjam. We are now well and truly stranded in the dreary desert sands of dead habit. While prices will go up in general, a few things will cost less, for instance diamonds and platinum. Apparently, he too believes in persuading people to eat cake if bread cannot be had!

The Finance Minister is not going to get much support for his latest effort from anyone except the paid help. N K Singh was first off the mark with a defence that focused on the marginal refinements the FM has made in tax collection procedures. The important thing he would have liked to keep clear was that import duties are coming down and excise duties and income taxes are going up. This tells a lot about this Government’s sensitivity to foreign interests rather than our own. Others like N K Singh will similarly struggle to find something more positive to say about the Budget. This Budget is truly Yashwant Sinha’s and it is vintage Yashwant Sinha.

Last year, I called his Budget dreary, tepid and timid. I have no hesitation in calling it that and be repetitive. Not that I have nothing positive about my old friend. He has earmarked an additional Rs 5,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana for asset creation in the rural sector. Of this, Rs 2,500 crore will be earmarked for rural roads. This is a positive idea and will gainfully employ the lakhs of underemployed rural labourers. With drought stalking many areas this would go a long way in putting purchasing power in the hands of people who will be hit the most. Similarly, he has allotted more money for rural housing. It now remains to be seen as to how much money will reach the intended beneficiaries. There is a small announcement about the provision of Rs 75 crore for revamping the Patents Office. This is long overdue and credit must be given for noticing a need for strengthening patenting procedures. There is nothing concrete about disinvestments. Having failed thoroughly in his last twoattempts, he simply seems to have given up. He has done little about subsidies. He has done little about the size of Government. I do not take his announcement about the corporatisation of DoT, ports and airports seriously. These have been spoken about before and like disinvestments, little has happened. Maybe, he will drop it the next year when he thanks the PM for giving him yet another chance to present the same Budget again.