Populist Budget-Cheated People- Precarious Future

Union budget has been presented by FM. Expecting a prudent action towards social welfare has become like hoping against hope. The allocation of money towards health program is abysmal 0.5 % of entire budget. And education constitutes hardly 3 %. It is indisputable that the most important indicator of human development is the progress in ‘health and education’ of the people. But our conscientious policy makers do not give it its due privilege. They do admit the importance of Health and Education has the paramount indicator of human upliftment but they hardly take concrete steps towards mass health welfare and education program. Though the same government boasts of passing the bill of ‘Right to Education (RTE)’ and ‘National Rural health mission (NRHM), two most ambitious scheme under the aegis of UPA government, but no concrete measure has been taken to ensure their quality ,efficiency and their reach to the supposed beneficiaries. Both the schemes are indubitably meant for the poor people and underprivileged. But mere intentions are not going to solve the deep rooted problem of illiteracy, lack of quality education, malnutrition and access of food at nominal rates to the large section of society.

Let us compare our budget to that of the developed countries. In most of the developed countries including Germany, France, Japan, UK and US, Education and Health together constitute 9-12 % of the total budget. Its 9 % in Japan and 12 % in US. While in India it sticks around 3-4 % only. So how do we compare it. Is it clearly 3-4 times to that of India? No. It’s even worse because size of Indian economy is much smaller than those countries. E.g. US economy is 7 times the size of Indian economy and still their allocation of Health and Education is 4 times to that of India (even when their population is much smaller than India's). So their 12% as compared to india’s 4 % is not just 3 times, it’s rather more than 20 times. So the amount of money US government spends on each individual’s health and education is 20 times higher than it is being spent by Indian government. (Forget about the difference in the value of currency between their and ours, that will make the figure abjectly ignominious). If an average Indian spends Rs. 25,000 every year on health and education, a US citizen spends 5 lac. So quality, including better sanitation, better nutrition, hospitals, better education infrastructure, could obviously be maintained to the best in the world.

Our difference of size of economy will be matched with higher growth rates and that we have. But do we need such a growth rate where actual growth in Health and Education has been neglected. Definitely we don’t want to see a developed but malnourished, rich but poorly educated India. Such an economic growth could be called an aberration or erroneous. It is just unacceptable because in that case it won't be indicating human development. Then it could only serves the elites, with poor penetration to the poor majority. According to Paul Krugman, the eminent economist of US, “if you want to define the success story of US in last century, you can do it with just single word, Education.” In 21^st century it could also be twined with Health. But our policy makers give it only secondary status. So only secondary results would come from it. We don’t have good quality of teachers, we lack infrastructure in school, so how can we expect our children to become scholars and doing research. We have abysmal record of child mortality and malnutrition. Then how can we boast that we are the Youngest Nation in the world when we know that young Indians are the most malnourished people.

I think its time to realize and rectify both the cause and the meaning of growth. A growing society must tantamount to the growing quality education and health of the mass. This is not possible without giving these two their due place in the budget. It must be somewhere near the respectable figure of 10% (of GDP). Only then we will have enough funds to build better school and health centers, we will be able to give handsome salary to our teachers, scholars and research associates, government can take the burden of providing education loan to its lowest possible interest, subsidized medicines and health check-ups could be made available to the poor, nutritional records could be regularly monitored and maintained in schools, even in government schools of remote areas with the help of technology, and other innumerable aspects that are not possible without funds. Because Healthy and Educated people are higher treasure than Gold mines and Petroleum wells. Giving 3% of total budget is like making mockery of the people of India to bereft them of their Primary rights, and that also year after year. It must be raised atleast to the decent level by doubling it in next budget. And I believe it could be easily arranged by compromising a bit in other departments, its because no other department is as important as people’s Health and Education. I hope situation would ameliorate in the successive budgets and human’s most significant development aspect would get its due place.

Union Budget: A Repeatitive Juvenile mistake

Each year Union budget is presented in Lok Sabha by Finance Minister (FM). Each year there is plethora of new announcements and schemes, which appears more a sycophancy of elite rather than concrete solutions, juxtaposed with brief announcement of fiscal deficit. I want to shed light on pseudo-significance of the kind of budget that is being presented and passed in Lok Sabha. If you give money to a housewife for the domestic expenditure of an year, she can tell the each minute detail involving gains and Losses and can tell you the reason behind a failure of particular investment. Not only this, she will modify her demand for the next year expenditure as result of last year's experience. If a common housewife can analyze all the reasoning behind the expenses with finesse, what's wrong with the policy makers and our economists. Either they are juvenile or are too reluctant to ameliorate.

I've never heard in any budget when last budget's failures, and flaws, have been told along with the reasons and what measures have been taken to avoid any previous repetition next year. If FM can't tell its people the percentage of success, also region-wise, along with the definition of success for a particular policy, how the public would come to know that a particular policy is worth continuing.

For example if government has implemented Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment guarantee Act(MGNREGA) and mentions in each successive budget just the amount involved in the scheme, with no concern to the hitherto percentage of success, what better it can achieve in next year in continuation. Government increases the amount of money involved in this scheme. But it's reluctant to tell the people in which region it is being implemented successfully and in which region it is a fiasco. Because no scheme can have the same result in each region of the country. Thus the next obvious question would arise as what are the reason behind the success or failure also in the particular regions. Along with that which section of the society has been benefited the most, again along with the reasons. Then in the next step we seek the solutions towards overcoming those hurdles and accordingly we change the policy and guide the money. But this involve a culture of revaluation and reviewing, which would be there if those in policy making are anyhow concerned with the common man.

I dont think it's of any use announcing budget, a cliche, each year and just cutting the corners by dividing the money given towards different departments and policies. We need a budget that is based on the research done by the analysts with judicious amendments each year. Let it not be an act of sycophancy of Aam-aadmi. It must contain everything that could ascertain long term welfare of Aam-aadmi. Such bedget is of no-significance.