EDITORIAL COLUMN

Friends

We are at the end of Financial Year. It is a month where union budgets are discussed across the media. Election to the Loksabha being only a few months away, customary budget was given a go by. The vote on a/c, by both the Railway Minister and the Finance Minister have been presented to the parliament. Railway Minister, although, belonging to Karnataka, did not show any special favours to his state. While this being a fair policy, it has its own valid arguments against it. But what most ministers in railway, in fact all railway ministers in the past, have only played the development card, instead of development per se. Budget allocations are done according to the demand from either the political class or the general public. Announcement in the budget, not necessarily leads to the project. It takes its own time to start, having started, it never runs through a planned programme of completion. There are any number of projects started, but languishing at different levels of completion. Nobody at the level of decision making realise that all these incomplete projects represent an NPA or Non Performing Assets, like the bad and doubtful debts of our public sector banks. Cost escalation, machinations by contractors, vested interest of politicians and babus, all play its villainous role to bleed the system as long as possible. It is a very vicious state of affairs. When will  things change for better? is question doing its interminable rounds. That indeed is sad. But then, its Yeh Mera India.

Coming to Finance Minister, like all budget before election, he tried his tricks making a section of population happy. Coming of AAP into the political main stream had its own positive effect. Congress was always a self styled champion of poor and vulnerable during all it’s over 55 years in power. It is a different matter that its only the rich, who have become richer during all these years. This time round, the budget has gone to town, to the urban middle class with lollypops. Since in the present electoral arithmetic, AAP is targeting the same crowd and have reaped benefits at the hustings. So it’s basically the Congress party which is trying to better its prospects. It’s probably the case with all political parties.

Month-in-Perspective has been as usual. We have tried to look at as many issues as possible. As for Focus, it had to be, the coming Loksabha election. However we have tried to be incisive by analysing what President Pranab Mukherjee stated, while he spoke to the nation on the eve of our 65th Republic Day celebration. How, during all these years, it was the country that came a cropper, when politicians and their hangers-on had a field day. It is little hard, but well intended. Hope the president will take it in right spirit. Rest of issues are as usual. Do revert with your inputs.