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Drumbeat: Ad Buzzaar
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Monday, July 20, 1998
A battered budget
The 1998-99 budget will long be remembered for its extraordinary ineptness, as well as for the dithering which has accompanied its presentation. Practically every pressure group worth its salt has been able to extract its pound of flesh. It is, of course, true that budget-making is a political process, and lobbying is an integral part of it. But surely the budget-makers should, right in the beginning, have realised the effect which some of the proposals would have, instead of chopping and changing in what appears to be an entirely ad-hoc manner. The backtracking on some of the proposals is entirely welcome, but it does send out the signal that the budget-making exercise was devoid of any larger purpose, and was, in effect, an accountant's budget aimed merely at matching receipts with expenditure. The signals are also being interpreted to mean that the government lacks any vision about economic policy. And yet such an interpretation will not be entirely correct. The budget's statement of intentions, with itspromise of opening up insurance, divesting stake in PSEs, and restructuring the public sector shows that the government has the objectives right. Its recent prompt action on the development of information technology and the steps taken by the power minister show that the government can take the initiative if it wants to. But it seems to be an easy task to move the government away from its objectives, and there is little overall policy co-ordination, with the result that the government speaks in several voices. The government needs to keep two things in mind--first, that people would respect it more if its stuck to certain principles and did not succumb to each and every pressure group, and second, that it should make an effort to improve the quality of its functioning.Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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