Thursday, February 26, 2015

Leaking roof and broken umbrella

Thought for the day
"Man has, as it were, become a kind of prosthetic God. When he puts on all his auxiliary organs, he is truly magnificent; but those organs have not grown on him and they still give him much trouble at times."
-          Sigmund Freud (Austrian, 1856-1939)
Word for the day
Demassify (v)
To break (something standardized or homogeneous) into elements that appeal to individual tastes or special interests
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
How does "Where is Rahul" debate reflects on India's security and intelligence apparatus?

Leaking roof and broken umbrella

Aur bhi gham hain zamaane mein mohabbat ke sivaa
Raahatein aur bhi hain vasl ki raahat ke sivaa - Sir Faiz Ahmed Faiz
(There are other sufferings too in this worlds besides the agony of love,
There are other joys too, besides the joy of union)
In recent months a whole lot of commentators have (over)emphasized on the extent of fiscal deficit India can or should or cannot or should not afford. I do not think I can add anything useful to the arguments in favor or against the need for expansion of fiscal deficit to support the efforts for revival of investment cycle in the country.
My point is that the government's fiscal policy needs to be in harmony with the popular mandate it has received.
I strongly believe that the mandate of this government is unmistakably for pragmatism, development, inclusivity, nationalism and good governance. This government does not enjoy the luxury of hiding behind the shields like limitation of coalition, party ideology and conventional political paradigms. People have afforded BJP complete freedom to deliver on the promised change and are entitled to expect an express delivery from the government.
Accordingly, I feel the budgeted estimate of ratio of fiscal deficit to the GDP should actually not figure very high in the priority list of the government. In my view there are a multitude of deficit that needs to be bridged on a higher priority.
In particular the following deficits (not necessarily in the given order) need to be assigned priority over the budgeted fiscal deficit:
1.     Capital deficit
2.     Demand deficit
3.     Skill deficit
4.     Employment opportunity deficit
5.     Trust deficit
6.     Social infrastructure deficit
7.     Physical infrastructure deficit (
8.     Productivity deficit
9.     Compliance deficit
10.   Corporate governance deficit
Fiscal prudence is good. But that discussion could wait for a sunny day. In overcast conditions, as forecasted for this Saturday, we need to bother more about leaking roof and broken umbrella.

No comments:

Post a Comment