Event or no event. Review on Indian Budget 2006-07

Budget-2006, they say, was a no-event. No big announcements, no unassuming changes in tax structure and not much to cry over for the opposition and one of the governments unlikeliest ally CPI (M). However, to them, who feel that ever since Manmohan Singh opened the Holy grail of Indian economy to the outside world, the poor of the country have been exposed to unholy schemes of malicious capitalists, this budget came as a sigh of relief. The finance minister made sure that the `aam admi’ of the UPA gets the share of the pie. So there we are, the shrewd and relentless finance minister of India (Fondly and rightly called the PC) readily agreed to concede a few inches to the rural populace, who were, if the conspiracy theory of the Communists are to be believed, made deliberately to suffer for the luxury of the bourgeoisie. Here’s a look at the finance ministers largesse to the poor and underprivileged of the society. ·Sarva Siksha Abhiyan: 93 per cent of children in age group 6-14 years are in school, number of children not in school has come down to about one crore; outlay to increase from Rs.7,156 crore to Rs.10,041 crore in 2006-07; 500,000 additional class rooms to be constructed and 150,000 more teachers to be appointed; Rs.8,746 crore to be transferred to the Prarambhik Siksha Kosh from revenues through education cess. · Mid-day Meal Scheme: 12 crore children now covered; allocation to be enhanced from Rs.3,010 crore to Rs.4,813 crore. · National Rural Health Mission: more than 200,000 Associated Social Health Activists (ASHA) to be fully functional and over 1,000 block level community health centres to provide round the clock services; allocation increased from Rs.6,553 to Rs.8,207 crore. · National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: allocation of Rs.14,300 crore for rural employment in 2006-07 · Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission: estimated outlay of Rs.6,250 crore for 2006-07 with grant of Rs.4,595 crore; · National Social Assistance Programme: old age pension to destitutes above the age of 65 years to increase from Rs.75 per month to Rs.200 per month; Rs.1,430 crore provided for 2006-07; · Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes:allocations for schemes benefiting only SCs and STs enhanced by 14.5 per cent to Rs.2,902 crore; · Minorities: corpus of Maulana Azad Educational Foundation to be doubled to Rs.200 crore; Rs.16.47 crore to be contributed to strengthen equity base of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation; · Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme: 1,000 new residential schools for girls from SC, ST, OBC and minority communities to be opened in 2006-07; Rs.128 crore provided and an additional sum of Rs.172 crore to be provided during the year; The agriculture sector got a huge boost by the finance ministry and rightly so coz’ it’s the sector that can result in a windfall for the government and the country. With rural economy based on agriculture, the push is sure to make a big impression in the long-run. The only catch is can the cash allocated to it be furrowed into the farms. A question that has always plagued the Indian economy. AGRICULTURE · Irrigation: Outlay of Rs.4,500 crore under AIBP in 2005-06, grant component of Rs.1,680 crore; Command Area Development Programme to be revamped to allow participatory irrigation management through water users’ associations; 20,000 water bodies with a command area of 1.47 million hectares identified in the first phase for repair, renovation and restoration; estimated cost Rs.4,481 crore. · Credit: Farm credit to increase to Rs.175,000 crore in 2006-07 with addition of 50 lakh farmers; · With effect from Kharif 2006-07 farmers to receive short-term credit at 7 per cent, with an upper limit of Rs.300,000 on the principal amount; · Micro Finance: 801,000 SHGs credit-linked in two years with credit of Rs.4,863 crore disbursed to these SHGs; another 385,000 SHGs to be credit- linked in 2006-07; Despite so much for the common man or the aam admi, some lamented the hike in service tax from 10 to 12 per cent. An English daily (which has its allegiance to one of the opposition party) carried this headline on its front page: Rs 72000 cr extra burden on aam admi. That’s their interpretation of the service tax hike. However, the new services that were taxed include ATM operations, maintenance and management; registrars, share transfer agents and bankers to an issue; sale of space or time, other than in the print media, for advertisements; sponsorship of events, other than sports events, by companies; international air travel excluding economy class passengers; container services on rail, excluding the railway freight charges; business support services; auctioneering; recovery agents; ship management services; travel on cruise ships; and public relations management service. God knows how many of these services are actually availed by the aam admi and as result are caught in the FM’s tax net. Though there were many more provisions and announcement made in the budget, they were dispatched with disdain, terming them as not-of-much-importance. Though the budget didn’t have the earth-shaking announcements, but the the two ‘Chanakyas’ (Manmohan and Chidambaram) made sure that the ‘earth’ keeps moving smoothly. And bout those earth-shaking announcements, which would have made the budget an event worthwhile, they can be made ‘unceremoniously’ any time of the fiscal, for we have to get it that budget is mere a financial ritual performed every year so religiously to give the media, the corporate houses and the opposition something to discuss about to kill their time.