I am not in the habit of following the budget speech. But there's a first time for everything and I did tune in this year. Mainly because I had to write 500 words on 'what the budget did/ did not do for the youth' for the Financial Express by 5 30 pm, the same evening. Here's what I wrote:
Let us build castles!
- Rashmi Bansal
Listening to the FM's budget speech in full evoked in me a feeling similar to watching the annual Republic Day Parade. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, rural employment, mid-day meal and assorted other schemes named after members of the Gandhi-Nehru family were the first to march past.
I felt like making a trip to the nearest electrified village and doing a jig to the tune of 'thodi si dhool meri, dharti ki meri vatan ki'…If there is a road to reach that village in the first place.
Call me a cynic but this is how most of young India feels when politicians rattle out statistics about 'development'. Seeing is believing and we don't like the dump of a country we see around a few islands of opulence and excellence.
Ironically, the FM made a statement about young people building 'castles in the air'!
But sir, we're glad you used the word 'castle' and not humble jhopdi, or 1 room PWD apartment. We're glad that you approve of young India thinking and dreaming big. So are you.
Leaving aside the 'announcements' on duty cuts and tax tweaks which experts are better placed to analyse, what pleased me were some of the vision statements. Imagine an India where you don't have to stand in line to file a police complaint, get a birth certificate or register as a voter. Where you can demand information from government departments under the Right to Information Act through an online application.
No science fiction, that. The FM plans to bring sarkari services online under a National E-governance plan. A more efficient and accountable government? Now that is something we will thank the FM for long after we've forgotten about cheaper soft drinks and Santros.
Speaking of thanks, students of Mumbai, Madras and Kolkata universities will be pleased with the Rs 50 crores allocated to each institution, in recognition of their completing 150 years. This is great news, except for the fact that the FM wants this money to be used for 'a specified research department or a research programme' when the problems that need to be addressed are far more basic!
And yet, as the minutes tick on, as achievements and proposed achievements parade by, you can't help getting carried away by a sense of pride. This is more just a 'budget', it is a document defining hope.
Because a budget implies 'living within one's means'. To which the young person's answer is I am not satisfied with that. Allow me to grow.
India is now a growth story and there is no looking back. What's more, the Finance Minister ended his speech with the immortal words of Swami Vivekananda, "We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. … our own destiny." Which is exactly what the young people of this country now believe.
For the underprivileged, the budget must continue to sow opportunities. And for the rest of us, allow us to enjoy the fruits of our own harvest.
There was more I wanted to say but could not due to the word limit. So here goes...
On education: The thrust of the budget outlay in education is towards primary and rural - rightly so. But higher education can't be left to fend for itself.
IISc Bangalore recieved Rs 100 crores in last year's budget towards upgradation and modernisation. This year another well deserved Rs 100 crores went to Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
But what about a comprehensive policy that aims to upgrade all mediocre institutes to excellent ones, and the excellent to outstanding?
And also a quality control mechanism for private education. These are issues which of course need a whole separate forum for debate but if the primary schooling program is successful - imagine how many fold demand for higher education will increase say 10 years from now. And then, universities and colleges can't be set up or upgraded overnight!
On entrepreneurship: The Ministry of Finance has a pretty cool website where you can actually watch a webcast of the FM's speech and access budget speeches from previous years.
If you run a word search through this year's speech you will find the word 'entrepreneur' used no less than 4 times. It was not mentioned even once last year.
This year's speech specifically refers to young people building castles - and the FM says it is 'our job to lay the foundation for those castles'. So we enable you and you go out and create your own future.
Hope this translates to better power, roads, public transport - and other infrastructure which will allow us to be productive, not hassled citizens.
I am intrigued by this statement in particular: Recognize SMEs in the services sector, and treat the small scale enterprises in the services sector on par with the small scale enterprises in the manufacturing sector.
If this means access to credit for entrepreneurs in the service sector it would be a great step forward. The idea of a world of commerce where you don't have plant and machinery to pledge as collateral remains alien to the loan officer in the average PSU bank. And this is a stumbling block for entrepreneurs, young and old alike.
On accountability and follow up: Not to say the FM is lying but achievements like '10,366 villages electrified' are - I hope - published separately and verified by independent agencies.
Lastly, this article in FE raises the pertinent question: Where are yesterday's budget ideas?
Before today’s budget comes up with another list of new schemes for rural India and the environment, it may be worthwhile to look at where we have progressed with regard to some of the big announcements of earlier budgets.
The restoration of water bodies, the launching a horticulture mission, subsidies for micro-irrigation and the launching of a mega bio diesel plan were some of the major initiatives meant to breathe new life into India’s rural economy.
Unfortunately, by the time these schemes made their way through several ministries, it was already December 2005. With the end of the financial year round the corner, there is the usual rush to release money. In terms of actual work, however, there is very little to report.
Hope the media, NGOs and development agencies continue to discuss, debate, push and nag the government every week, every month tio implement its plans and show results for allocations. And not just wake up next year on Feb 27th!
An interesting and thought provoking article rashmi. It is good for the country to realise that it is the youth of this country that is going to take the country forward not someone like our esteemed politicians who are hell bend on wasting country's money.
ReplyDeleteFor any development, infrastructure, transport and power is important. Unless and until we improve those, we will not be moving forward.
Does any one really verify the gibberish that is thrown by politicians in the form of data. I am really interested to know where from these data are collected. If they can never be verified, whatever one says is true isn't it?
With the prices of all commodities rising every year and no substancial salary increase of common man, where from can they squeeze out a comfortable life? Has anything been done to answer these questions.
I am a software professional. Thankfully, i am paid well to lead a good life. But does that payment extends to someone working in the small scale sector, in cement sector, in manufacture, in engineering...Is any mechanism exist to verify whether the salary earned by a person is in accordance with the industry standards?
I am sorry for being in a whining mode. But i feel that these things needs to be looked onto. Comments welcome.
let me say this abt SME i have personal experience on this and FM sir seems to do nothing abt it For Eg you will get cranky calls from all and sundry to take PERSONAL loans at varying interest from various banks even they dont ask your salary slip proof of income nothing and dont even ask reason why you need money .. just take it but anything however you flip and say you want not 1 lakh but say 3 lakh byt for upgrading your dad's SME then the tone changes please come and meet manager sumbit project feasiblity report etc etc and still no gurantee .. for the money .... and all time and effort making report goes waste .. the way i tried to overcome this .. is in my family 3 persons took PERSONAL LOANS and believe me no one asked why .. 3 people living under single roof needed PERSONAL LOANS no gurantee nothing .. if i freak out now and dont repay then what...:-)
ReplyDelete"But higher education can't be left to fend for itself. "
ReplyDeletePrimary and secondary education give far more social returns than higher / professional education.
Higher education should be liberalized and private players should be allowed to enter. The government should only set up an independent regulatory agency like TRAI for the higher education sector. And yes, FDI should be allowed. Today, people are willing to pay for education. For those who can't, the private sector should offer scholarships to promising candidates. The not-so-promising ones can always get a loan - the banks will only be too happy to advance loans to students of good universities.
By giving a free rein to the market forces, the quality of education will automatically improve and stupid anomalies will disappear. Didn't you lament a few posts back that an IIM professor actually earns less than a fresh IIM graduate?
@sand_dunes,
ReplyDeletei remember reading it somewhere (i guess it is that famous book "rich dad, poor dad"). here auther mentions same feeling and explains it also. banks want to give you personal loans so that you work for bank now onwards. work for money and pay bank in interests. but lending you for your SME, they are letting you, make money work for you. so they dont lend money for SME.
Thanks for a good article, Rashmi. Demystified the jargon that one has to wade through to get to the actual facts. Interesting points about higher education and entrepreneurship.
ReplyDeleteOverall FM managed to put up a good show.
ReplyDeleteJust hope the economy continues to grow at this pace.
Read my recent post
Slaughterhouse Ethics
hmm .. nice account of the budget. I was really impressed by this line of urs --
ReplyDelete"For the underprivileged, the budget must continue to sow opportunities. And for the rest of us, allow us to enjoy the fruits of our own harvest."
Hi Rashmi!
ReplyDeleteExcellent commentary on Budget! Very subtle criticism, but apt!
Regarding grant to Universities, it seems IISc hasn't received 100 crores that it was granted last year. And, I can't vouch when will Madras, Bombay and Calcutta Universities receive their promised grants!! It happens only in India!!
And, in last budget, there was an allocation of 1000 crores for a Desalination plant in Chennai. Not a single word about that has come yet! Who is responsible? State or Central? What happens to such allocated but not spent money? any ideas Rashmi?
-Venkat
Hey Rashmi....Cool Analysis of a Hot Budget!!I would say it has 25% cynicism,25% skepticism and 50% appreciation and hope.I did not listen to FM's speech as i was snoring(Na..na...the speech wasn't boring...its just that i m BPO employee..nocturnal monsters u know!),but i did go through the exquisite analysis done by Times Of India(TOI) which devoted more than 10 pages to the budget and had reactions from all corners of the nation.Your analysis is a nice one as well...Kudos to you and TOI for that!!!...Overall..the budget can get 7 out of 10....although disappointment for guys who hope to buy a laptop in the near future as it might cost more(I m one of the victims!)..But nevertheless...as they say in the US...That was cool Man!!(This goes for Both FM and Rashmi for their respective contributions)
ReplyDeleteP.S..Rashmi...I would love to have your experiences on my blog!...so if u r free...just drop in at postyoursmile.blogspot.com
What a whimper of a budget from Chidambaram. Seems like he is braindead...
ReplyDeleteTax ATM usage. What!??
Wait theres more. Tax credit cards and debit cards further. Nuts !??!!
Umbrellas to cost more. Packaged food and poultry products to cost less, icecreams to cost less... blah blah
Its seems like those old oppressive Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh days budgets, where they decided the prices of little items like soap, detergents, toothbrushes, safety pins etc.
And last year Chidambaram came up with the funniest harebrained idea .. withdrawal tax. If you withdraw your *own* money from the bank, you will be taxed.. ha haha.. what a loooser ..
really eye opening , this high-profile ministers shld actually know what exactly is happening in deep-roots of our motherland, instead of showing ever-improving stats.
ReplyDeletehi!
ReplyDeleteyou can also add this to his hair brained ideas (from last year's budget): doing away with the standard deduction for the salaried. So now the generally-no-way-out-of-the-tax salaried person is in the same league as a businessman, who has umpteen ways to hide his real income! Also sad to see the industry honchos giving unusually high marks to the FM. why have such surveys in the first place when you know the boot licking industrialist won't dare say a word in earnest, for the fear of IT raids and other such govt retribution, if he publicly critises the FM.
Sad media..sad commentators....
ali
budgets i guess have lost their relavence currently.gone are the days when people used to assemble to hear luminaries like nani phalkiwala give their take on the budget.the 91 budget was suppossed to be path breaking ..what did the newspapers report on the following say ..nobody told that india was entering a new era ..even now the major reforms are happening, but the budget is no indicator of the real policies and financial condition
ReplyDelete减速机 齿轮减速机 SEW减速机 摆线针轮减速机 蜗轮蜗杆减速机 interlining
ReplyDelete明星代言 明星经纪公司
制动单元 铝壳电阻
modern abstract art sofa manufacturer
净水器 开水器 净水机 净水 软水机 软水 直饮机 家用净水 家用净水器 家用净水机 中央净水 中央净水器 水家装 水家电 水卫士 混合机
过滤机 DHL快递 俄罗斯签证 回转支承 Laser marking
保险箱 法兰 法兰标准
polycarbonate sheet 回流焊 波峰焊
压球机 注册上海公司 儿童摄影
牛皮癣 皮肤病 制氮机
食堂售餐机 校园一卡通
学校一卡通 ic卡售饭机
食堂售饭机 深圳一卡通
广东售饭机 机电设备安装
北京发票 代开发票
餐饮发票 住宿发票
广告发票
网络电话 免费网络电话
假发 补发
织发 植发
压滤机 板框压滤机
蒸馏水机 纯蒸气发生器
上海搬家公司 上海搬场公司
大众搬家 大众搬场
张家界旅游 香港旅游
深圳旅行社 打包机
收缩机 对讲机 电源模块
血管栓塞剂
售饭机 水控机 水控器
萎缩性胃炎 neoprene laptop bags
SEO优化
SEO优化 计量泵
胃炎 胃病
冷水机 冰水机
工业冷水机
北京特价机票 北京打折计票 北京国际机票
北京机票预定 北京飞机票
北京订机票 北京机票查询 饮料机械
银杏 水培花卉 企业宣传片 空分设备
化工泵 离心机
电话交换机 程控交换机 集团电话 集装袋
混合机 混合机
混合机捏合机 捏合机
捏合机导热油炉 导热油炉
导热油炉 反应釜 反应釜
反应釜 spherical roller bearing
搬运车 搬运车 电动搬运车 油桶搬运车 堆高车 电动堆高车 半电动堆高车 堆垛车
高空作业平台车 电动叉车 平衡重叉车 前移叉车 电瓶叉车
韩国饰品批发 模块电源
X架 超薄灯箱> 易拉宝 展柜制作
代理服务器 游戏加速器 网络加速器
网通加速器 电信加速器 电信网通转换器
电信网通加速器 网通电信互转
网通电信互通 网络游戏加速器
美国VPN代理 美国独享VPN 美国独享IP
pvc ceiling panel Spherical roller bearings
SEO优化
安全鞋 劳保鞋 防砸鞋 电绝缘鞋 上海安全鞋 上海劳保鞋 江苏劳保鞋
服装软件 服装管理软件 进销存软件
进销存管理软件 服装管理系统 服装进销存软件
进销存系统 进销存管理系统 免费进销存软件
吉林中医 东北特产
打包机
阳痿 阴茎短小 阴茎增大
早泄 前列腺炎 阴茎增粗 阴茎延长
国际机票 上海国际机票
国际特价机票 国际打折机票
砂磨机 砂磨机
砂磨机 卧式砂磨机
卧式砂磨机 卧式砂磨机
三辊研磨机 三辊研磨机
三辊研磨机 混合机 混合机
混合机 锥形混合机 锥形混合机 锥形混合机 行星动力混合机 行星动力混合机 行星动力混合机 无重力混合机 无重力混合机 无重力混合机
干粉砂浆设备 干粉砂浆设备
干粉砂浆设备 捏合机 捏合机 捏合机 导热油炉 导热油炉 导热油炉 反应釜 反应釜 反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜 搪玻璃反应釜
乳化机 涂料设备 干混砂浆设备 无重力混合机 胶体磨 涂料成套设备 双螺旋混合机
北京婚庆 北京婚庆公司
400电话
办证 呼吸机 制氧机
亚都 亚都加湿器 亚都净化器
亚都装修卫士
饰品批发 小饰品批发 韩国饰品 韩国饰品批发 premature ejaculation penis enlargement
安利产品 马来西亚留学
网站优化 网站推广
衬布
代写论文
代写论文
论文代写 代写论文
磁力泵
离心泵
化工泵
隔膜泵
螺杆泵
潜水泵
油泵
耐腐蚀泵
泵 水泵
拖链 防护罩 排屑机 塑料拖链 钢铝拖链
化工离心泵
计量加油泵
自吸式离心泵
管道油泵
自吸式排污泵
潜水排污泵
自吸式磁力泵
耐高温磁力泵
不锈钢多级离心泵
多级离心泵
耐腐蚀自吸泵
自吸化工泵
玻璃钢液下泵
液下式排污泵
卧式离心清水泵
氟塑料磁力泵
磁力驱动循环泵
耐腐蚀污水泵
卧式化工离心泵
玻璃钢耐酸泵
防爆管道油泵
不锈钢多级泵
立式多级离心泵
塑料磁力泵
水泵厂
手摇油泵
上海水泵厂
上海水泵
离心泵厂家
热水泵
清水泵
气动隔膜泵
深圳装饰 深圳装饰公司 深圳装修公司
特价机票 打折机票 国际机票
机票
新风换气机 换气机 立式新风换气机 风机箱 新风系统 能量回收机
搅拌机 混合机 乳化机
分散机
毛刷 毛刷辊 工业毛刷 刷子 钢丝刷
涂层测厚仪 硬度计
兆欧表 激光测距仪
测振仪 转速表
温湿度计 风速仪
超声波测厚仪
粗糙度仪
噪音计 红外测温仪
万用表
硬度计 万用表
美容院 美容加盟
澳洲留学 澳大利亚留学
什么是法兰
电烤箱
酒店预定 北京酒店预定 北京酒店
离心机
nail equipment nail products nail product nail uv lamp nail uv lamp nail uv lamps uv nail lamp nail brush
nail file nail tool nail tip nail gel curing uv lamps lights
万用表 风速仪
红外测温仪 噪音计
苗木价格 苗木信息 标牌制作 深圳标牌 北京儿童摄影 防静电鞋 淘宝刷信誉
威海凤凰湖 威海海景房 大庆密封件
打标机 淘宝刷信誉 TESOL/TEFL国际英语教师证书 英语教师进修及培训 北京快递公司 北京国际快递
牙醫,植牙,矯正,紋身,刺青,創業,批發,皮膚科,痘痘,中醫,飛梭雷射,毛孔粗大,醫學美容,肉毒桿菌,seo,關鍵字行銷,關鍵字、自然排序,網路行銷,關鍵字、自然排序,關鍵字行銷、seo,關鍵字廣告,部落格行銷,網路行銷,seo,關鍵字行銷,關鍵字廣告,關鍵字,自然排序,部落格行銷,網路行銷,網路爆紅,牛舌餅,婚紗,台中婚紗,腳臭,腳臭,腳臭,腳臭,腳臭,中古車,二手車,中古車,二手車,高雄婚紗,減肥,窈窕 。
ReplyDelete