It is a disappointing budget. I am not saying this from the corporate sector’s point of view that nothing much has been provided to stimulate reforms but saying this from local governance point of view. This is a democracy and to make the democracy truly participatory and result oriented, people at grass roots level need to be empowered economically. While one understands the finance minister’s concerns to improve and keep the macro fundamentals strong, one does not really understand as to how it can be done without addressing and strengthening the micro foundations of our Democracy. The micro foundations are the effective local governance institutions which are the back born of our democracy. If the local governance institutions are empowered through increased budgetary allocations, they can plan and implement their economic activities according to the needs of the people at grass roots. Further, certain fundamental economic activities like agriculture are closely and positively linked with the effective functioning of local bodies in rural areas. That is precisely why the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 included development of agriculture as one of the functions of Panchayat Samities. It is a well known fact now that many Panchayats in India are starved of funds and functionaries to carry out their constitutionally mandated functions. To make the matter worse, the present budget does not provide anything at all to strengthen the functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions by way of increased funding. Viewed from this angle, I find the union budget 2012-13 as yet another attempt to strengthen the ruling government’s intention to centralise the country both politically and fiscally instead of decentralising it.
Nice Selvam. It's a recurring theme of yours -- what democracy truly means and entails -- that you keep drawing attention to, and the need for all governance to be oriented towards it. Sadly, that's not the case.
ReplyDeleteAs Selvam writes the idea of democratic decentralisation is sought to be materialized through Panchayati Raj institutions, but these institutions would be successful only if it is associated with local planning rather than working as an agency of the centralised development administration. However, the indifferent attitude towards regional issues and inadequate attention to the model devolution (Strengthening local self-government institutions through administrative and financial devolution can only fulfill the goal of decentralisation) weakens the proclaimed goals of decentralization and that continues budget after budget. Besides, the 2012 Union budget doesn’t properly address supply bottlenecks in agriculture and employment as the previous budget. And apart from some soap like mid-day meal it doesn’t address problem of malnutrition and its predicaments in more than 200 districts in India and unfortunately there is no effective steps to bridge gaps in distribution, storage and marketing systems to strengthen food supply
Deletechains. Of course, it is a disappointing budget and I say from the corporate sector’s point of view it is a good budget since there is no change in corporate tax and no regulation for corporate sector. Added to this the budget gives income tax benefit for invest in share market and we all know how it doesn’t help economic growth. Otherwise we should invest all money in share market and forget about economic growth that is expected to come through positive investments in agriculture, service and infrastructure.
I agree with you Selvam..Well written. But the present budget has allocated something for agri sector
ReplyDelete@ Santosh: Thanks da, it will recur until the fundamentals of our democracy are strengthened and adequately empowered!
ReplyDelete@ Retheesh: I completely agree with your critical remarks!
@ Vinoj: Thanks da. As we all know, agriculture is where the majority of the rural work force is engaged for livelihood. Of course, the finance minister has done ‘something’ for agriculture. But this ‘something’ is ‘nothing’ considering the magnitude of the sector and the challenges it faces. Though he has increased the plan outlay for the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation from Rs. 17, 123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs.20, 208 crore in the current budget, it is just a marginal increase. Plus, the absence of clear strategy to generate employment in agriculture is another reason why we can call this as anti people budget. Agriculture needs ‘something big’ and not ‘just something’!