POLITICS OF BUDGET: URGE TO SPLURGE

BORROW AND SPEND The Badal government’s budget is reflection of what political parties do in their last year in power

CHANDIGARH:

By scaling up the size of the splurge, the vote-catching populist pitch is apparent in the SAD-BJP government’s last budget presented in the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

Finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa’s 44-page budget document reflects the desperate impulse of the government which is facing a political challenge from the Congress and the third force, the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) in the run- up to assembly elections due in 10 months.

Though the state is under serious fiscal strain, the budget speech packed with sops shows the priority of the Parkash Singh Badal regime.

Through the budgetary proposals, the government has virtually targeted almost every electoral segment with the farmers getting a top priority and women empowerment receiving the much-needed attention.

Even as the government has showered a number of doles on Akali’s core constituency – the farmers, the ruling alliance has resorted to some smart and shrewd jugglery of statistics.

The budget also tries to strike a balance between the rural and urban constituencies of the alliance partner. A booster doze of Rs 2,000 crore will be injected into the rural areas, while equal amount has been allocated for urban development.

Despite the fiscal health crumbling, Dhindsa’s budget makes no attempt, not even a last ditch effort, to reboot the state’s economy or any austerity drive. The state finances will get a direct and major hit from a slew of tax rebates to industry and real state.

Major schemes proposed in the budget are going to be funded from outside the budget. The budget is silent on a number of schemes about where the money will come from. The expenditure of the government is galloping, while the revenue receipts are on the decline. But, what has given a breather to the cash-strapped government is the fact that by a stroke of luck, its share in central taxes has gone up due to 14th finance commission’s recommendations.

According to financial experts, the budget conceals more than it reveals which is borne out from the fact that the huge financial problems staring the state don’t get reflected in the budget document.

“We have to see outside the budget rather than inside the budget to find out what is the real state of Punjab’s finances. The real picture of finances is grim as the actual action is taking place outside the budgetary proposals in the form of diversion of budget which does not find mention in the budget,” a former Punjab chief secretary said, hinting how major amount is not included in the consolidated funds.

This budget of the Badal dispensation is a reflection of what the political parties in their last year in power generally do- splurge under the scorchedearth tactics.

We have to see outside the budget rather than inside the budget to find out what is the real state of Punjab’s finances

former Punjab chief secretary