| Published on 05-03-2007 In National | | Viewed 1264 times | | The budget, the media and the Left |
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| Written by
RajanMarx | 
There was nothing remarkable about that pocket cartoon in Dinamani on the budget day, showing a down and out poor man telling another, never mind these budgets, we remain where we are. It was almost a cliché.
So many budgets (nearly sixty of them?) have come and gone, but the climb up for the underdogs has been excruciatingly slow and agonizing, only punctuated by some terrible famines and similar crises.
But look at the concerns of our media. Among the tallest of them, that venerable Prannoy Roy, uttering tut, tut, nodding his head rather mournfully, asked the Finance Minister, "How could you tax ESOP? Is it not a big blow to our software professionals? Is it fringe benefit? And the one on dividend distribution? You have also banned forward trading in rice and wheat? Tell us, frankly was your heart in all this? Were you not forced into halting reforms because you will have to face the voters two years from now? "
There was not a word about what the budget was seeking or not seeking to do to rein in inflation, constantly creeping up, if not spinning out of control and nothing about what had been done or not done for farmers committing suicide all round.
That the "dream budget" man should stoop to tap corporate sector to raise resources, if not choke it altogether, was betrayal.
Prannoy Roy's reaction was almost typical of the media, crying foul that reforms had been stopped in its tracks.
Come budget, almost every single newspaper, not to speak of the television channels, goes overboard, devotes so much space to it, analyzing the various implications for the nation.
Clearly such a hype is unwarranted. The corporate sector would be fine tooth-combing the budget proposals, they would have to know how much they stand to gain or lose, yes, and it would be good to know for us all what impact the budget could have on the price line in general.
Beyond that when has the budget ever made any major difference to the life of the common man? But then when has the media been concerned with the lot of the common man, could be an apt retort.
Many westerners have said repeatedly that they are intrigued that the Indian media should go in for such a breathless coverage of budget, making it look as if it was going to make all the difference between life and death for millions of citizens, when it is nothing more than an annual administrative exercise.
Take inflation, for instance. In the case of food, some essential commodities and some infrastructure items, it has touched ten per cent. And it is not as if around the time of budget it all came as a bolt from the blue.
As.Dr.D.K.Srivatsava, Director of the Madras School of Economics, noted caustically the other day, "Inflation in food items has been allowed to go out of hand quite unnecessarily. With a proper information system and timely predictions for essential food items, it should have been possible to import in time and even out these supply-side imbalances." To do all that one does not have to wait till February 28.
Again immediately after forward trading was allowed in commodities, enabling traders to negotiate prices against future deliveries, many warned speculation in this segment could have serious consequences, but no one listened and mean time, prices of dhal and other items went up. And now as he presented his budget, Chidambaram announced grandly that the government had chosen to ban forward trading in wheat and rice.
Of course as inflation started revving up sometime ago, the government did try some half-hearted measures like increasing the cash reserve ratio of banks, making credit that much costlier, sucking some money from the system that is. Again one did not require the budget to do so.
I am only arguing that any government, so inclined, can tackle problems facing the country's economy, without necessarily waiting for the budget time.
O.K. then, if the media is insensitive and the government could not care less, except when it comes to votes, what are our wonderful conscience-keepers, the Left doing? What is their contribution?
They dutifully presented a memorandum to the Finance Minister during the run-up. It noted acidly, "The list of Indian billionaires show that within one year, i.e. between August 2005 to August 2006, the wealth of the richest Indian grew by over Rs. 32000 crore, which is nearly 1% of India's GDP. One wonders why in such a backdrop, the wealth tax collection of the Government remained at a paltry Rs. 265 crore in 2005-06, and exactly the same amount was budgeted for 2006-07. The Wealth tax rate should be increased from 1% to 3% without further delay and initiatives need to be taken to broaden the wealth tax base by bringing all the urban as well as rural crorepatis into the wealth tax net."
Increase allocation for the commitments made in the national common minimum programme, increase investment in agriculture and irrigation, bring down the prices of petrol and diesel by restructuring the duty on petroleum products and so on.
Of course the UPA government promptly discarded all those well-meaning suggestions. Still is it enough reason to denounce the budget as anti-people? I am afraid, not.
For at the very least the Finance Minister has not dared present yet another "dream budget," but made the corporate sector squirm a bit, the indirect tax revision is revenue neutral while direct taxes have increased.
Inflation might not have been tackled, but the fact remains there is no blatant attempt to placate the rich or burden the commoner surreptitiously, which would have been Chidambaram's wont, but for the compulsions of electoral politics.
To that extent the Left should heave a sigh of relief, build bridges to the "reformist" government and bolster its morale. Beware the saffronites are licking their chops after Mumbai, Punjab and Uttarkhand.
Equity and social justice might remain a very distant dream, but any lack of vigil on any front could mean social cohesion would be in danger and more Gujarats on the anvil.
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