Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar presented yet another budget. And once again the financial statement of the state had little economics in it. I don’t blame Mr Parsekar or Parrikar or Digambar. In a state like Goa, it is practically impossible to present a budget with economic acumen. For all practical purposes of political survival, a populist budget is the only thumb-rule.
A senior BJP MLA was very troubled months back as his staunch karyakartas were angry and unhappy. The ire wasn’t due to lack of developmental works or disabled progress. They were agitated as their leader failed to snatch maximum number of government jobs for them. It was a matter of priority and survival in their point of view.
In 1965, we had 11,000 government employees. In 1990, the number went up to 35,000. In 2005, it rose to 46,000. In 2016, it is 59,000. The astronomical rise in the number of government servants should have led to perfect public delivery systems. However, the numbers skyrocketed and delivery nosedived.
At present, we are spending Rs 220 Cr per month on the salary of the government servants. Another Rs 85 Cr are spent on pension and gratuity. Can we seriously afford this?
Our debt figure is dangling in the area of Rs 16000 Cr. Last year it was 14,600 Cr. It was 11,231 Cr when this ‘parivartan’ government came to power in 2012. Our revenue figures are in the Rs 5,500 zone. The annual increase is hardly 10-15 percent (i.e. Rs 500-700 Cr). However, our debt figures go up every year by Rs 1500-1900 Cr. Why are we burdened with such huge debt? Who is responsible for it and can the situation be contained? I will avoid all the complex economic theories and complicated superlative jargons. Let’s keep the founding principles of an economic exercise also aside. Let us only focus upon the ground reality “ our ground reality.
43 percent of our money is spent on social services; 11 percent on roads; 4 percent on rural development and 5 percent on industries and minerals. The biggest chunk goes not for any development or progress but on Ladli Laxmi, Griha Adhar, Dayanand Samajik Suraksha Yojana, mining dependants etc etc. The total expenditure on these so called welfare schemes is more than Rs 1100 Cr per year. This eventually leads to insufficient development and inappropriate and incomplete implementation of a budget due to lack of funds. Post 2012, the total implementation of budget has been less than 50 percent. The difference between planned expenditure and actual enforcement is huge “ Rs 900 to 1000 Cr per year.
Why does this happen? Certain expenditure is unavoidable. You just can’t escape the monthly payment. For example “ salary and grants, pension and gratuity, interest payment and debt servicing, social schemes and power purchase. You cannot delay these payments. A delay for a day and each MLA will witness total chaos and complete havoc outside his residence. What takes a hit in this scenario is an obvious “ maintenance of existing infrastructure, creation of new infrastructure and some crucial subsidies. In short “ progress.
The prudent way of handling this financial mess is three ways “ cut expenditure on doles and irrational social schemes, expand tax base without hurting the middle and lower middle class too much and plug the obvious leakages “ starting with power and water thefts.
DSSY is a rational social scheme. It helps old and needy. But we cannot ignore the fact that many of the beneficiaries are bogus and unworthy. They have incorporated their names in the scheme to derive brute and undeserving benefits from the exchequer using their political connections and local clout. On the other hand, Ladli Laxmi and Griha Adhar are totally irrational schemes. It is okay to be a welfare state to some extent “ a scheme like DSSY makes some sense. But it is absolutely crazy to be a “nanny state”. Griha Adhar and Ladli Laxmi fall in this category. A government is expected to run state and economy in a prudent way so that inflation is under check, social taboos take backseat and a progressive agenda is propagated and percolated in the society. Government is not expected to manage kitchens and plan our weddings. Some even label Ladli Laxmi as Dowry Laxmi.
What will happen if the government acts in a rational way and discontinues some of these social schemes? Without any doubt, the party in power will lose the forthcoming assembly election hands down. We Goenkars will render these “economist politicians” jobless as we ourselves desire these stupid doles and unjustifiable schemes just the way we want government jobs.
Our reaction would be the same if the government attempts to expand present tax base without penalizing the usual performing suspects furthermore. We would say “ don’t tax me. I don’t mind the performing fellow getting taxed more just the way previous governments taxed him over the last few decades. Same with the leakages; we love to reap these illicit benefits of a pervert economy. We want it to remain that way and we are ready to overthrow a regime for trying to punch some sense into “we the Goenkars”. We truly don’t deserve any budget exercise.
Post-script: Amount for Griha Adhar has been increased; age limit of Ladli Laxmi has gone up; age limit for government jobs has also been enhanced. Elections are already in the air.
Pramod Acharya is Editor, Prudent Media
