Dear Pranabda, as we have observed you over the time, you are a man of all reasons and all seasons. Anxieties and expectations are brimming as you will take the crease again, on 26th Feb.
So what is the Budget going to be, in times when the free-market economy seems to have slowed down the world’s wealth-generating apparatus — banking, finance, venture capitalism, subprime lending, outsourcing and WTO implications. Surely it will have some vintage stuff, for example the Rs 10/kg sugar, perhaps a page out of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s acclaimed work on the economics of famine. It also sends a human signal to this whole business of money and materialism. No complaints for recovering the revenues by doubling the toll fees for people who have cars and would want to enjoy the luxury of riding them on proper roads.
But I see that there may be concessions there too, because the recently recognized and upgraded "aam aadmi" will never be ignored. I suppose, for the less privileged, where the toll payment may eat out of their petrol buying savings, one may declare an empty tank a reasonable visible yards upstream, with the family pushing the car through the slim lane between the two window panes that collect the toll, push it beyond at least half a kilometer, and then put on the self and zoom again. The logic is you don’t pay if you do not have enough petrol to drive through the turnpike.
Rising inflation is giving most Indian households sleepless nights. To make matters worse, it is food inflation that is leading the consumer price indices up and hitting the common man where it hurts the most. Last year’s drought has put pressure on the supply of food & is causing an increase in prices. While the government is trying to fight the crisis by importing food & other commodities, prices have so far refused to head down. The government has also held meetings with several state governments asking them to crack down on hoarder out to make a quick buck.
Is there anything else you feel the government could do to bring down prices? What can be done to fundamentally fix Indian agriculture and indeed the economy to make sure that inflation does not reach such levels again the future?
Union Budgets have generally been a mixed affair for the salaried. Employees waiting primarily for any news on upward revision of tax slabs and greater avenues for tax free investments. However, in many budgets the salaried go away with the feeling that what the government gave with one hand, it took away with the other.
So, what are your expectations from this year’s Budget? Do you think that having hit the hardest from the economic meltdown, the salaried class will get its due this time round, or will it again be the usual affair? Or is there something else on your mind? Also, what else does the FM need to do for the salaried class to bring it on equal footing with businessmen and professionals?
Pranabda, I am sure, in the national interest we shall be paying for the extra "crab" logo on cigarette packs, that good old wine will attract further premium, giving the republic a comprehensive "stress test", rather than going phase by phase. The dangerous "tharra" (country liquor) will not be touched, keeping the "aam aadmi" in mind.
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