Karnataka Budget 208-2009 Today
Karnataka Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa (BSY) who also happens to be the Finance Minister of the state is to present the budget today, July 17, Thursday. Incidentally, this is the third budget BSY will be presenting. “This will be the best budget I will be presenting. People will not be disappointed as the all-round development of Karnataka has been taken care of and there will not be much of a burden on the common man,” he gushed to the Times of India, on the eve of the budget. He said the blueprint for the budget had been prepared after extensive consultations with experts from all fields. The government would endeavour to ensure that rural areas got equal attention so migration to cities from rural areas could be curtailed. He had no time to translate his ideas into action when he presented the 2006 and 2007 budgets. There were pulls and pressures from all sides.
Now that he is free to present a budget of his liking, can we expect a growth-oriented budget? No, not at all. If earlier he had to put up with pulls and pressures from all sides, now he has to put up with pulls and pressures from his own party in order secure his position as chief minister. On the previous occasions too, the necessity to cling to power dictated the budgetary priorities although he may be reluctant to admit it. Other things come later. Even amongst the ‘other things’, such promises as were made through the poll manifesto and could translate into votes at the next election come first. It is because of this, the budget he will present today is going to be no different – it will be the same old wine. Only the bottle will be new.
Some of the poll promises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made in its zeal to capture power, come hell or high water, make interesting reading. For example, assistance for mass marriages has been promised under the ‘Kanya Dhaan’ scheme. Is it the government’s business to marry off boys and girls? It is the duty of the parents to marry off their sons and daughters and not the government’s. Can the government afford to wash its hands of the couple once the marriage has been performed with government assistance? It cannot, since marriage in itself is not the end. In fact, the trials and tribulations start in the post-marriage phase – the bridegroom may still be jobless and with nothing better to do, may have increased the size of the family. In the process, he not only starves his wife but also adds to the list of the starving millions. The ‘marriage’ assistance provided by the government may have been better spent by providing vocational training to the youth who will be in a position to earn a living as a result. Once they begin to earn a living, they can enter into wedlock on their own and can be relied upon to raise a family and not a village, now that they know the value of money. Otherwise, the couple will raise a village and not a family, as most villagers in our country do.
Another promise, viz, providing power free of cost to farmers, is a promise that most governments make and renege on. The reason is simple: It is a promise that cannot be kept for practical reasons and even during the brief period it is kept, it is kept more in form than in substance. Right now inputs like fertilisers and seeds are being supplied to farmers at a subsidised price. The minimum support price (MSP) scheme also ensures that the farmers do not have to undersell their produce. In the circumstances why offer them free power particularly when it is practically impossible? If the government honestly feels that power should be provided at nil cost or at a reduced cost to make agricultural operations viable for the farmer, it can as well jack up the minimum support price. At least it will put an end to the transmission and distribution losses that the electricity departments of the various state governments ascribe to farmers. In fact, on the pretext of providing free power to the farming community many unscrupulous elements have been pilfering power. Genuine farmers will not complain if they are compensated in the form of higher MSP.
Another equally stale promise is the promise to supply rice at Rs 2 per Kg to the poor. Is it a practical proposition? The poor would rather welcome wages at the end of the day. If the money squandered on various populist schemes is channelled even partly into infrastructure, the unskilled and semi-skilled can be provided jobs. In urban India, labour shortage is conspicuous. In rural India too labour shortage is increasingly becoming common. During the crop season in particular, sourcing labourers is impossible in rural India. It is difficult to believe that a government that has no money to take up even minor infrastructure projects, like laying motor-able roads to connect villages with towns, has money to provide rice at Rs 2 per Kg to the poor.
In Bangalore, the so-called Silicon Valley of India, since Monday (the 14th instant), every two hours of power supply is followed by one hour of power outage. The government cons you silly into believing that Bangalore city is the Silicon Valley of India. In the rest of the state, the situation for obvious reasons is worse. Power shortage has assumed crisis proportions. Depletion of storage at hydel resources and the recurrent technical snag at a generating unit at the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) have made things worse for the common man and trade and industry. Power transmission companies are so inefficient that they cannot even schedule load-shedding. By default, in Karnataka, load-shedding has come to mean unscheduled load-shedding. Hopefully, ‘the best budget BSY will be presenting’ has factored in these ground realities.
Now that he is free to present a budget of his liking, can we expect a growth-oriented budget? No, not at all. If earlier he had to put up with pulls and pressures from all sides, now he has to put up with pulls and pressures from his own party in order secure his position as chief minister. On the previous occasions too, the necessity to cling to power dictated the budgetary priorities although he may be reluctant to admit it. Other things come later. Even amongst the ‘other things’, such promises as were made through the poll manifesto and could translate into votes at the next election come first. It is because of this, the budget he will present today is going to be no different – it will be the same old wine. Only the bottle will be new.
Some of the poll promises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made in its zeal to capture power, come hell or high water, make interesting reading. For example, assistance for mass marriages has been promised under the ‘Kanya Dhaan’ scheme. Is it the government’s business to marry off boys and girls? It is the duty of the parents to marry off their sons and daughters and not the government’s. Can the government afford to wash its hands of the couple once the marriage has been performed with government assistance? It cannot, since marriage in itself is not the end. In fact, the trials and tribulations start in the post-marriage phase – the bridegroom may still be jobless and with nothing better to do, may have increased the size of the family. In the process, he not only starves his wife but also adds to the list of the starving millions. The ‘marriage’ assistance provided by the government may have been better spent by providing vocational training to the youth who will be in a position to earn a living as a result. Once they begin to earn a living, they can enter into wedlock on their own and can be relied upon to raise a family and not a village, now that they know the value of money. Otherwise, the couple will raise a village and not a family, as most villagers in our country do.
Another promise, viz, providing power free of cost to farmers, is a promise that most governments make and renege on. The reason is simple: It is a promise that cannot be kept for practical reasons and even during the brief period it is kept, it is kept more in form than in substance. Right now inputs like fertilisers and seeds are being supplied to farmers at a subsidised price. The minimum support price (MSP) scheme also ensures that the farmers do not have to undersell their produce. In the circumstances why offer them free power particularly when it is practically impossible? If the government honestly feels that power should be provided at nil cost or at a reduced cost to make agricultural operations viable for the farmer, it can as well jack up the minimum support price. At least it will put an end to the transmission and distribution losses that the electricity departments of the various state governments ascribe to farmers. In fact, on the pretext of providing free power to the farming community many unscrupulous elements have been pilfering power. Genuine farmers will not complain if they are compensated in the form of higher MSP.
Another equally stale promise is the promise to supply rice at Rs 2 per Kg to the poor. Is it a practical proposition? The poor would rather welcome wages at the end of the day. If the money squandered on various populist schemes is channelled even partly into infrastructure, the unskilled and semi-skilled can be provided jobs. In urban India, labour shortage is conspicuous. In rural India too labour shortage is increasingly becoming common. During the crop season in particular, sourcing labourers is impossible in rural India. It is difficult to believe that a government that has no money to take up even minor infrastructure projects, like laying motor-able roads to connect villages with towns, has money to provide rice at Rs 2 per Kg to the poor.
In Bangalore, the so-called Silicon Valley of India, since Monday (the 14th instant), every two hours of power supply is followed by one hour of power outage. The government cons you silly into believing that Bangalore city is the Silicon Valley of India. In the rest of the state, the situation for obvious reasons is worse. Power shortage has assumed crisis proportions. Depletion of storage at hydel resources and the recurrent technical snag at a generating unit at the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) have made things worse for the common man and trade and industry. Power transmission companies are so inefficient that they cannot even schedule load-shedding. By default, in Karnataka, load-shedding has come to mean unscheduled load-shedding. Hopefully, ‘the best budget BSY will be presenting’ has factored in these ground realities.
