Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa

It is sad that the government with such an able cabinet has failed miserably to bridge the gap between spending and revenue. In this case, the blame rests solely on not putting into action the revenue plan effectively. The finance ministry planned spending on the assumption that revenues will come in from mobile spectrum auction, privatization of PSUs etc. While the plan sounded bullet proof earlier this financial year, the way the plans were carried out was far from professional leading to a yawning gap. This gap is, I am afraid, going to influence much-needed spending in the next couple of fiscals.

Albeit bad weather affecting agricultural output and world economic recession, India was positioned smartly at the beginning of this fiscal because it had precious revenue sources. Other nations would have killed to be in this position but the government has squandered this opportunity to take a leap ahead of other nations out of this recession.

Unfortunately, in India, there are more takers than givers. Among the groups needing support next fiscal would be marginal farmers who could fall out of an occupation with just one bad monsoon, urban laborers depending on real estate development and infrastructure projects, workers in traditional sectors such as textile, gems/jewelery, handicrafts etc.

This gap will force the government to roll back stimulus prematurely and put Indian industry at a disadvantage compared to rest of the world. In addition, unemployment numbers will sneak up (There are no clear numbers on unemployment numbers!).

I hope the opposition gets its act together and takes the government to task on the following items in the upcoming budget session

1. Spectrum auction failure/mismanagement (I think the telecom ministry needs some executive clean up)
2. Botch-up of NMDC IPO
3. Government’s measures to address unemployment (rural and urban)
4. Government’s plans to address revenue growth in the following fiscals
5. Stimulus plan

We do have an able team at the center but we do not have watch guards – a problem I was afraid will come up due to the lack of a strong opposition. Let us hope we get through this one with the sane ones in the parliament asking the right unbiased, non-divisive questions.

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