The Indian Union Budget 2004-05

The Manmohan Singh Government finally rewarded those who voted them to power. It was expected to reverse the pro-rich trend and give dollops to the aspirational lower middle class.
Educational cess of 2 percentage will prove beneficial only when it is disbursed judicially towards improving primary education facilities. In India, over 30 percentage of educational expenditure is towards teacher and government staff salaries. Fiscal Management in education sector has to be established before taxing the salaried people. The service sector taxes had to be raised considering their miniscule contribution to the revenue, though they form over 50 percent of the GDP. My post of social engineering Vs software engineering proved the point.

The additional Rs.10,000 crore budgetary support for popular Mid-day scheme have to be supported with better vigilance. It is known that the Mid-day meals scheme in the schools of Tamil Nadu were a huge hit with the poor not because of the lure of education but because of the meal. Proper monitoring mechanisms should be in place to ensure that schools donot turn into mid-day meal centres and mass kitchens. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) should be first be practised by the ministers in parliament who waste public resources. The growth target of 7-8 % is not impressive, the government should have found means to improve it to 8-9%. Overall the budget has been without any flamboyancy, and on expected lines. The Finance Minister, Mr. Chidambaram has prepared a south Indian meal. He has added more spice with less salt to the main course and more salt with less spice to the side dishes. The taste is the same.