M.P BUDGET 2009 : A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?

Though recession has hit India the least - and within India MP even less - everyone seems to be hiding behind it .General expectations were that the government would try and put its election promises into practice and also leverage the provisions of the union budget. Specifically, the promises of making agriculture profitable , creating employment , attracting capital,promoting core areas ( such as tourism,SME's ), improving infrastructure etc...it was expected That certain long term measures would be announced and some out of the box ideas would be tried. As it turns out, nothing of the sort has happened.It is more of the same of the previous budgets albeit with marginally increased allocations.There is not much for the industry - esp. SME's(Nothing for the textile or auto components industry)... Others had expected that taxation on CPP would be removed - that too hasn't happened. Agriculture has recieved enhanced funds but there is nothing specific about increasing productivity or drought relief ( though there is mention about promoting organic farming and irrigation has got nearly a fourfold raise) ; announcing polytechnics for all districts is perhaps the single most important anouncement of this budget ( funding has been raised for Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Missioon too) but something more was needed for secondary education ( granting a huge amount of 30 crores for NIFT was bit of a surprise at this juncture ) ; nothing whatsoever has been said about sports & sportsmen which is a shame;tourism has been given a raise but nowhere near what it deserves ;The deficit of 50,000 c rores is a worrying sign ( esp. in the light of recession ) ; though the GDP growth
has been pegged at 5.7 %. ( which is better than some of the states ) the per capita income has slided further down ( even when compared to BJP ruled states s uch as Chhattisgarh & Rajasthan )
I t was expected that in the second innings the govt. would try and go beyond the B.S.P issues - at least somewhat. The budget has been a disappointment on that count -for the lion's share has still gone to these areas. There are hardly any new initiatives - the only interesting ones are: Sudama Scheme for poor students of general category and Rural Technology application programme. Though the share o f the so cial s e dtor ( e sp. women & Child we l fare ) too has gone up but to a large extent ,it is by leveraging the central funds/ schemes. No special packages for any sector / re gion and nothing for minorities has sent a w rong si gnal.Not a word about enhancing eficiency or improving the delivery system. Moreover, improving the drinking water situation has been given the go by ( only a small mention about rural drinking water scheme ) .All in all, it appears to a be lack lusture budget taking refuge in external circumstances .There's nothing to convert crisis into opportunity - surviving the recession is being touted as an achievement.Perhaps you need a different minister for recession - just as in centre you had Pranab mukherji - than what you have for a booming economy.

UNION BUDGET - M.P.SHORTCHANGED ?

In view of the improved showing of the Congress in the LS ele ctions , it was expected that the state may recieve some gifts in the Union Budget. However, none of that happened
and Madhya Pradesh has been ignored in Budget 2009 - there is no special package for the state ( In the light of its drought hit districts ) ; in some areas the provisions have been enhanced ( viz. JNURUM allocation for Bhopal - has been increased by 360 crores) ; in others they have been kept more or less the same ( viz. funds in women & child welfare ) ; in yet other areas the allocation has in fact come down( viz.Share of Taxes - by 460 crores ). The story is same in the indirect provisions - in some areas they've been raised ( NREGA , rural roads etc. ) ; in others , status quo is maintained (viz. agricultural loans) and in yet other aspects the state's share will come down (viz. GST).
In a sense, it appears that having different governments in the centre and the state is good for the polity but bad for economy- at least for the developing states.

RAIL BUDGET - THE MP ANGLE

Madhya Pradesh has the lowest average o f National highways and among the lowest rail coverage.Only when Madhavrao Scindia was the Railway minister that things marginally improved. Now that Kamalnath is the surface transport minister, we can hope for some relative improvemnt in road density. Talking of air connec tivity neither now nor in the forseeable future can M.P. come near the developed states.
In the light of the above, the state needs affirmative action to bring it at least to the national average. However, pardoxically in this year's rail budget ,M.P. recieved only cosmetic and symbolic dollops. Instead of longstanding demands of connecting Bundelkhand with rail lines ; Bhopal - Gwalior intercity train and Indore Bombay Turant besides making the Gwalior Bhind track broad guage the state has been given two world class stations ( Bhopal & Habibganj)- that too in the same city , few model stations and some new stoppages.The work of Lalitpur-
Singrauli rail line conitues at a snail's pace and no new trains have been introduced . It appears that only if and when we have a rail minister from the state that some justice woould be done to Madhya Pradesh.

BJP & CONGRESS : FAKE HYPE & FALSE MODESTY

In 2004 BJP went ballastic with its shining India campaign which was fake hype - and paid the
price for it. Five years later , Congress has adopted its flip mode - that of false modesty; at first, it sang the Aam Aadmi tune while simultaneously giving tickets mostly to the children of erstwhile rulers and MP's ( in the name of promoting the young) ;and now ,while presenting a seemingly pro-poor budget it has retained ( and in some areas even increased ) the pro -corporate /industry tilt in the fine print. Both are dangerous trends with the sole aim of grabbing power by all means - in a sense, it is subversion of democracy.

THE AGENDA FOR NEW GOVERNMENT

To my mind , the ideal agenda for the UPA govt. could look somewhat like the following:
First of all, they would finetune their flagship programmes of the last tenure which had loopholes or could not be properly implemented due to various reasons namely -
NREGP : loopholes to be plugged ; programme to be to be spread to the entire country .
URBAN RENEWAL MISSION : It'll be a key programme this time out - last time they pleased the rural populace , this time Congress will try to entice the Urban voters
( plans for urban poor - viz.slum removal- would be a key aspect ).
NHRM : Last time out it was the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which was somewhat of a success; this time, the focus will be on rural health ( tackling malnutrition in children would be a key )
BHARAT NIRMAN PROGRAMME : It'll be taken up with redoubled gusto esp. in view of the recession ( Infrastructure projects are best suited for such periods )
Besides ,various other areas in which the ground work was done in the previous innings but could not be implemented for one reason or the other- this time they'll be taken up with a missionary zeal. The key ones are :
SACCHAR COMMITTEE REPORT - Would be implemented since Congress has been
pleasantly surprised by the support it recieved from the Muslims - they'd like to consolidate it .
KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION REPORT - It has been in the making for over 5 years and govt. will do well to implement it without any further delay; within it , the Female literacy mission and the right to education bill would be the key ( last time, Congress focused on the youth , this time it'll be women ).
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS - Verappa Moily's report is ready for implementation
action will start sooner than later ( including police reforms ). Key aspects - improving
delivery system ; E - governance ( Incl. Unique Biometric ID number )
JUDICIAL REFORMS : These are long overdue and cannot be ignored by any
government anymore.
Furhtermore , on various fronts the following is likely to be the direction:
Political : Women's reservation Bill
Economy : Amending Land acquisition act; Disinvestment; Goods & Services Tax;Banking sector reforms
HRD : Arangements for skill enhancement & Re - skilling.
Security : Naxalite issue ; Increase police force & Equipment.
Administration : Institutionalised selection of CEC, CVC,CAG, IB & RAW directors.
Social Security : Na tional pension; Food security.
Foreign Policy : Enhance aid to neighbours and provide them access to Indian markets simultaneous with aggressive diplomatic pressure not to harbour anti-India activites .
Things which ought to be included but are unlikely to happen
1 Labour reforms.
2. Privatisation of loss giving public s ector enterprises.
3. FDI in key areas viz. cutting edge education ; selective insurance etc.