In first indication of where this years budget might be headed,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed his deep concern over the rising subsidy bill,going to the extent of saying that he was losing sleep over it. As Finance Minister,when I think of the enormity of the subsidies to be provided,I lose my sleep. There is no doubt, Mukherjee said at a function on ensuring targeted public distribution system here. A sharp surge in subsidies,combined with a dip in tax and other revenues,is widely expected to push up the fiscal deficit for the current fiscal year to well over 5 per cent,against the budgetary target of 4.6 per cent. In real terms,the subsidies are likely to exceed the target by more than Rs 1 lakh crore for the year 2011-12. This widening fiscal deficit,continuing inflationary pressure and a definite slowdown in growth have complicated matters for the Finance Minister, who is scheduled to present the Union Budget soon for fiscal 2012-13. The Reserve Bank of India has already raised the red flag,urging the government to cut expenditure as a precondition for rationalising interest rates. The central bank has singled out subsidy cuts as the only area where sizeable reduction in expenditure can take place. Mukherjee,however,gave a thumbs up to the Food Security Bill,which the government had introduced in Parliament in the winter session. The legislation,that seeks to give every citizen a Right to Food and promises to ensure a fixed quantity of foodgrains to most of the households in the country,will put a further subsidy burden on the government. Mukherjee said the government would have to make it work despite problems and constraints. Today people are not ready to wait any longer. today they are eager to have their empowerment. not in the documents of the Planning Commission or the assurance of policy makers,but entitlement backed by legal enactment. That is the rationale of having the Food Security Bill, Mukherjee said. The minister also said that the PDS needed drastic improvements without which food security would continue to remain a dream a point that was emphasised again by Food Minister Sharad Pawar,who has several times in the past raised questions over the Food Security Bill in the current form. There is a general perception that I have reservations about the Food Security Act. But there is no denying the fact that as a welfare nation,time has really come to ensure that each and every citizen of this country gets two square meals a day. I will be failing in my duty if I do not emphasise the fact that the Food Security Act will never succeed in achieving its goal in letter and spirit if we try to push it through the existing public distribution mechanism, he said.
