This refers to the editorial, “Nobody is convinced” (February 18). Mr P Chidambaram has passed on the baton to the next Finance Minister who will take over in a few months from now.
His interim Budget is a back-patting exercise in futility. Mr Chidambaram has neatly played with numbers while announcing his take on the contained fiscal deficit and the improved current account deficit. There have been no measures to control subsidies. The plan expenditure for this fiscal year has been, in fact, more than the preceding year. GDP growth remains on the lower side. High import duties on gold and considerable dividends from the public sector units have helped Mr Chidambaram to present a rosy but misleading picture of the Indian economy.
That Mr Chidambaram has not touched tax reforms clearly indicates that he knows well he will not return to the Finance Ministry. In retrospect, the ‘one rank, one pension' scheme appears to be the only saving grace, even if motivated by politicial considerations.