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.