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

Power Punch: Contemporary issue of MAHADAYI- KALASA BANDURI project by Amruta Kulkarni, III Sem

The years pass by and we don’t even realize whats going on in our surroundings. The Mahadayi Kalasa Banduri Nala project dispute is going on from past 4 decades and it has taken a very aggressive path from last 76 days. Mr. Vikas Soppin who is supporting leader of farmers in this dispute has enlightened us with the actual status of the project on 1^st Oct, 2015 in KLTU SMSR. Mr. Vikas has completed his BE, MBA and joined in with farmers struggle to resolve this ongoing dispute. Since he is equipped with techno-managerial skills, the situational leader dsicovered this side of his personality and has become quite a force to be recokned with. He explained the project details through a technical lens and summarised the  dispute in four parts namely: the detailed project, benefits, problems & solution to resolve this dispute.

 Karnataka- Goa- Maharastra are the main states involved in this water dispute. The Mahadayi river originates in Karnataka and flows towards Goa, partially in Maharashtra state and finally meets Arabian Sea. It has its upper riparian area in Karnataka & lower riparian area in Madovi which meet the drinking water needs of the town in north-western districts. The Karnataka farmers wanted this Mahadayi river should divert to Malaprabha river in the monsoon season so that the Navildhar dam capacity will increase from 11 TMC to 37.7 TMC, so that 5.28 lack acres of land will receive sufficient water for irrigation. Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Bagalkot districts & surrounding villages will get benefited from this diversion.  This diversion of Mahadayi to Malaprabha has become the biggest problem from last three decades. To address this water dispute a committee was formed in 1980 under the leadership of Mr. S. R Bommai & a settlment was reached with Goa Government. Goa was supposed to take electricity (Two power plants to be located on Karnataka- Goa border) and Karnataka would be allowed to divert water from Mahadayi river.  But this settlement could not hold due to change in the respective state governments.

In 2002, they come up with another project i. e Kalasa- Banduri nala project. To stop this project the Goa Govt. approached Supreme Court. The Supreme Court didn’t interfere because it was interstate water dispute and in 2010 a tribunal was setup to resolve this dispute but the tribunal is yet to give out its verdict. Mr. Soppin said the tribunal is going to give the verdict in Aug 2016. But according to me, it is a developmental project because;

 

" If project becomes successful then 5.28 lack acres of land get irrigated--> Opportunity to farmers – multi cultivation --> Contribution to GDP --> Economic growth of the Country"

                                                                                                                                    This lecture allowed me to gain an insight into the project and the disputed issue for which farmers are struggling from many days. It was observed that, every year more than 200 TMC ft of water is being drained into Arabian sea from Mahadayi river, & Karnataka Govt. has been trying their best to convince Goa for the diversion of 7.55 TMC ft of water from the river by asuuring them that this diversion will not affect their ecosystem in any way. But the dispute has not been resolved even though little Govt. intervention can solve this issue permanently. Hope to see this dispute reaching its conclusion soon.