Would this budget change anything at all? Part I: by Jayant Alagawadi

Recently the acclaimed finance minister of our country announced the annual budget for the year 2016/17 in the lower house. Many of us have wondered what does this mean to the common man and how should one interpret a budget of such mammoth proportions. On the outset this budget seems to be a massive change in plans for the present Modi Government, but when we dig deep into the realities one may argue that nothing much has improved since last year and the probability of any at all in the future also seems bleak.

To break it down let’s borrow a little (only graphs and charts) from an article published in The Hindu and authored by SAMARTH BANSAL (the graphs and charts used from the article are purely for educational purposes and the author of this article doesn’t intend to gain any commercial benefit from the same).

First lets have a look at the proposed Government spending for the upcoming year and allocation of the same across various sectors/ministries.

Let’s look at some of the most concerning aspect of this allocation and distribution:

à We don’t find a pie that is dedicated to Higher education explicitly, but according to the data the amount to be spent on the same in the upcoming year is around Rs. 28,756 crore. Which is a mere 13% increase from last year.

 

When we look at the above graph we get a sense of how much other BRICS nation are spending for education compared to us! A mere 3.5 to 4% of our GDP is being spent on higher education, which is even lower than that of Russia. This is quite alarming considering Make in India, Skill development and Digital India being the flagship projects of our PM.

à Women and child development ministry gets just 0.88% of the entire budget. Now why this is alarming shouldn’t be a question of compulsion but should be of one’s own choice. According to the supreme court of India every Indian city and town should house at least one “Nirbhaya center”. In the mid 2014 the WCD ministry had proposed to open 660 of these centers as a pilot project. When one glances through the proposal submitted by the WDC ministry to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) it comes to light that these centers plan to hire retired police officers and lawyers to aid the victims. The centers would be run on rented premises and also provide shelter to the victims if needed. I don’t see a “Nirbhaya Center” in my city yet, or in my state. It’s been two years since the proposal has been doing the rounds of various ministries. Recently I read an article about the status of these centers (promised by Ms. Meneka Gandhi to be functional by August 2015) http://theladiesfinger.com/investigation-where-are-the-one-stop-centers-for-rape-victims-under-the-nirbhaya-fund/ and looking at the status of these centers anyone would feel that the WCD ministry could make use of some more funding.

àFew more areas of concern, according to the current allocations, seem to be with “New and Renewable Energy Ministry” with only 0.25%, “Science and Technology Ministry” with only 0.52%, “Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry” with only 0.37% and “Environment, Forests and Climate change” with only 0.11% allocation of the entire budget. We all know the importance of these ministries and why all of these could do away with more funding than what is allocated to them.

àLets talk a little about the subsidies for a moment. This whole budget is promoted as a poor man’s budget and pro-farmers. So subsidies for farm related products and equipment matter a lot.

From the above graph, one can make out that majority of our subsidy is spent on food and public distribution system of the same. For a budget to gain the title of being pro-farmers, the fertilizer subsidy is the one we should take a look at. Since 2009 there has been a gradual decline in the fertilizer subsidy allocation and a slight evening out from 2012 (from the graph). This year the government has allocated Rs. 70,000 crore, which is again less than previous year, towards fertilizer subsidy. Now this might seem a huge allocation, but lets have a look at the ground reality.  Satish Chander, director-general of the Fertilizer Association of India has told The Indian Express that Rs. 70,000 crore would be sufficient for the fiscal year per se, but it cannot take care of the built up arrears from the previous years. Lets have a guess; we will be starting the new fiscal year with outstanding subsidy dues of Rs. 45,000 crore payable to the industry (source:  Harish Damodharan, The Indian Express). This means we are left with only Rs. 25,000 as effective allocation towards fertilizer subsidy. There is also the issue of purchases related to urea, which has not been addressed by Mr. Jaitley. So calling this budget a pro-farmer’s budget seems like an after thought already.

PART II: To be Published soon

Research Initiative Workshop Phase III: organised by SMSR

From 23^rd to 25^th of this February, School of Management Studies and Research organized a three-day workshop on philosophy of research (both qualitative and quantitative). This workshop is a part of continuous process to orient the faculty members and students of SMSR towards research in their chosen areas. Phase II and I have already been conducted in the previous academic years, and phase III was an extension of the same. The resource persons for all three phases were from Tata Institute of Social Studies, Mumbai.

Phase III saw Dr. Samapthi Guha and Dr. Archana Singh from TISS, take the participants through various philosophies of research. The emphasis was given on directing one’s research through the research question and ontology and not by some predetermined methodology.

Each day was divided into various sessions, but on the outset it was laid out into a session of theory and one for activities. Qualitative and quantitative research philosophies were both touched upon and the participants were asked to work on the same during the sessions kept aside for activities. Literature review was also an area, which was emphasized by the resource persons a lot. Various techniques on reviewing and surveying the literature were discussed during the sessions.

The Phase III saw participation from different institutes like KLE’s IMSR and KLE Belgaum too. In total around 16 participants spent three days in SMSR honing their research skills. In the end it was a highly fruitful and productive workshop for aspiring researchers like us.

Would like to appreciate the trouble taken by Ms. Jayanti Belur in organizing the whole workshop and running the show for three days. Would also like to thank our H.O.D Dr. S.V. Patil for taking away our regular responsibilities for those three days so we could dedicate ourselves completely for the workshop itself.

INDUCTION PROGRAMME FOR THE BATCH 2015-2017 by Meghana Shellikeri, IIIrd Semester

KLE Technological University - SMSR

The program was kick started with a famous quote"Coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success....."   The two eminent personalities from Indian Air Force - Mr. C S Havaldar, retired Air Commando and Mr. Vasant Wai, retired Junior Warrant Officer were invited as Chief guests for the day. Both the personalities shared some memorable incidents from their long successful career. According to them, a major quality every student should develop during his/her MBA course is “adaptability”. They also elucidated the importance of communication skills for management students.

Management is all about communicating with others. Mr. C S Havaldar also brought out similarities between military and management. Addresses by both the personalities were knowledgeable and enlightening for the first year students.

Post lunch session was the informal induction program conducted by second year students. Events conducted were 'Buddy system' - where the first year students  paired up with second year students. The latter had to cram and introduce their buddy in an innovative approach which was quite entertaining. The second event was 'Treasure Hunt' which was a team building bustle,where both first and second year students had great fun. The first year students enjoyed while searching for the clue around the campus and they were asked to perform various witty tasks by their seniors to get hold of the clue. The event concluded with avowal of the winners. Later Prof. G S Hiremath gave a gist of the course outline and wished students good luck before he concluded the day.