Unencumbered by the demands of coalition politics, the Modi Government has leveraged its clear mandate to produce a Budget that responds to popular needs and aspirations such as the rejuvenation of the Ganga
Mr Narendra Modi is perceived as a tough Prime Minister who will take difficult decisions. He is also seen as one who will even take harsh decisions if need be. In the run up to his Government’s first Budget, Mr Modi reinforced this image by warning the people that he may have to administer some “bitter medicine” in order to revive the economy.
Since no Prime Minister in recent times had ever displayed the courage to give the people such advance warning, the general expectation was that the Union Budget would contain some really harsh measures, but that did not happen. The only “bitter pill” was the increase in railway fares by 14 per cent and the pre-Budget hikes in petrol and lPG prices, which the Government tried to make up by giving tax payers some sops in the general Budget.
Giving the manner in which the Manmohan Singh Government handled the country’s finances, it must be said that the Modi Government’s first railway and general Budgets have been drawn up with a great deal of responsibility to ensure continuity where needed and to effect changes where necessary. For example, the Railway Minister, Mr Sadananda Gowda, told Parliament that over the last 10 years, 99 new lines worth Rs 6,000 crore were sanctioned, out of which only one project was completed. There are also four projects which were launched 30 years ago and which are still incomplete.
Further, past Governments have succumbed to populism and sanctioned projects recklessly. As a result in the last three decades, 676 projects worth Rs 1,57,883 crore were sanctioned, of which less than half were completed. But, here is the shocker: The revised estimate for completion of the remaining projects is Rs 1,82,000 crore. All this smacks of gross irresponsibility and the Modi Government has to bear the burden of completing these half-done projects and clearing the mess.
Is it not a matter of shame that in the 10 years he was in office, Mr Singh could complete just one of 99 projects announcedIJ What does it tell us about his understanding of economics and about the kind of leadership that he gave his Cabinet and the countryIJ There are hundreds of such examples in the Union Government’s general Budgets as well, including evidence of fudging of figures.
Fortunately, the Ministers for Railway and Finance have avoided needless populism and chosen the path of pragmatism with presenting the accounts of the Railway Ministry and the Union Government. That is why, overall, the Prime Minister and his team deserve to be complimented.
One can also discern a distinct ‘Modi Effect’ in the general Budget. A major promise made by the Prime Minister during the campaign was that he would like to work towards ensuring 24X7 electricity for every home in the country. The Government has begun work on this ambitious scheme in right earnest by allocating funds for the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.
The Prime Minister has often spoken of the need to impart skills to the youth, so that the degrees and certificates they carry guarantee the acquisition of skills which employers want. Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley has provided for the creation of a National Multi-Skill Mission to impact skills to youth in the employment market.
Swach Bharat (clean India) has been another pet project of Mr Modi and the Budget has taken due notice of this by allocating funds for the Swach Bharat Abhiyan with 2019 as the target for ensuring toilet facilities in every household.
When Mr Modi visited Varanasi during the campaign he told the people that he had come to the holy city because he had been called by Maa Ganga. Mr Modi has displayed his reverence for India’s most sacred river and city by getting Mr Jaitley to allocate over Rs 2,000 crore in the Budget for a project titled ‘Namami Ganga’, meant to clean up the holy river.
The Budget also allocates over Rs 4,200 crore for creating a Ganga Waterway and another Rs 100 crore for repairing and renovating the ghats at Varanasi, Haridwar and other pilgrim centres along the Ganga.
During the campaign Mr Modi laid special emphasis on the Himalayan region and the North-Eastern States and his special concern for this region is more than visible in his Government’s first Budget including allocation of an extra Rs 1,000 crore for railway projects in the North-East, apart from funds for a sports university in Manipur.
The political significance of this Budget is that it is the first Union Budget presented by a single-party majority Government in 30 years. The last time this happened was in 1984. Therefore, the BJP Government led by Mr Modi has the fullest freedom to choose its course of action, without any restriction whatever from any quarter.
Such freedom of action also comes with a caveat, namely that such a Government does not have the luxury of blaming others or proffering excuses for decisions taken or not taken. Given the overall direction of the Union Budget, it must be said that the Modi Government has made the best of the clear mandate given by the electorate.
For example, the decision to establish an Expenditure Management Commission to review the subsidy regime that consumes over Rs 2.6 lakh crore per annum could never be taken by a Government which stands on crutches provided by the Congress or other such parties which barter doles for votes.
Similarly, the decision to provide over Rs 2,000 crore to clean the Ganga as also funds to repair the ghats in Varanasi, Haridwar and other pilgrim centres along the banks of this holy river, would never have been possible if the Government depended on pseudo-secular political entities like the Congress or the Samajwadi Party for its survival.
Over a period of time, these parties have begun to display contempt for the emotions and concerns of the majority in the country and this is the reason why they have allowed the Ganga, which is regarded as the soul of Bharat by one billion Hindus, to deteriorate.
likewise, the decision to increase the foreign direct investment in the insurance and defence sectors could never be taken by a Government dependent on the Communist parties for its survival.
Mr Modi is happily free of all such political encumbrances and that is why he is able to focus on priorities in order to revive the Indian economy and put the country on a high growth path all over again.