Three times better than what I could have done

Much of last 3 days have been spent in trying to understand the exact mess that has been done by the PM and his FM in the just presented Budget.  From the start one thing was clear - that this government has given up all pretense of acting for the economically weaker sections of the nation and instead is single minded in protecting and promoting the interests of the big and the mighty - all in the name of growth and development.

The Rs. 34,000 odd crores of subsidy given to the corporate sector is proof enough of that and coupled with the PM’s casual linking of subsidies to poor  with the notional loss in the 2G scam is a damning confession of such intention.

Instead of

• expanding  the midday meals scheme in schools for children or,
• allotting money to take care of lactating mothers or,
• an economic program aimed at alleviating the debt cycle of farmers and prevent suicides, or
• incentives to construct modern food (grains, vegetables and fruits) storage facilities, 

this administration has moved to cut taxes and increase sops to the corporate sector, who already are making nice, handsome profits, year after year: (estimates, before tax)

• 2007-08   -- Rs. 711,000 Crores
• 2008-09   -- Rs. 668,000 Crores
• 2009-10   -- Rs. 824,000 Crores

While the opportunity to write more elaborately on anti-poor policies of this administration in general and this budget in particular is there, today’s TOI had a brilliant and coherent expose on why this budget sucks as far as agricultural sector and social development goals are concerned.

Of lucky numbers and others the FM can’t see is at least thrice better than what I could have ever written and the writer is an eminent man in his own self and not a maverick blogger like me.



My Mischievous Half murmurs, ‘Just yesterday was the report that China, our own bugbear, is reorienting its policies to focus more  on social indicators.   Imagine that!  A communist China is moving to improve the social environment of its citizens; while a democratic India is acting more and more like a rampant oligarchy.’

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