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ARINDAM CHAUDHURI PRESENTS
Khao Aur Khilao budget
There is no point moaning about corruption while encouraging it. This Alternative Budget suggests a series of measures to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that will actually help the poor and the miserable and raise growth rates despite corruption

They say that if a lie is repeated a 100 times, people not only start accepting it as the truth, but also change their behaviour and actions accordingly. But this is India, the land and civilization which perplexes, frustrates and exasperates even hardened pundits by being the exception to God knows how many rules. In India, I have noticed that even if a truth is repeated a 1,000 times, people shrug their shoulders with cosmic apathy and move on. It is almost as if truth and people’s lives and actions move in a series of parallel lines that could confound even the ultimate Vedic scholar and mystic. You might wonder about my detour into confused philosophy at a time when I get ready to present my ninth successive Alternative Budget; this time to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who will present a full fledged budget after 27 long years. I am sure your eyebrows must have twitched that wee bit and your lips curled in the slightest hint of an amused snigger when you read the headline – The Khao Aur Khilao Budget. Some of you might even recall the theme and headline of 2008 – Ban the Budget, that raised many hackles, apart from eyebrows.

But my quasi-philosophical detour and a mention of the headline themes of the Alternative Budgets of 2008 and 2009 would become more apparent when we confront the most fundamental lie and the most basic truth related to economic policy making and governance in India.

Fundamental Lie & Truth

Rhetoric apart, what is the most fundamental lie that has been repeated more than a 100 times? It is the perception and propaganda that Indian governments and successive finance ministers have actually worked since 1947 to improve the lot of the poor. Inclusive growth is not a new age mantra that the Congress and UPA strategists have suddenly discovered; it has been repeated ad nauseum from pulpits and platforms for more than 60 years. The fact is: it is the most fundamental lie that has let government after government get away with empty slogans and zero performance. India had about 250 million people living in dire and desperate poverty in 1947; the number has gone up to more than 350 million after 60 plus years of emphasis on inclusive growth and redistributive justice for the aam aadmi.

And what is the most basic truth that has been repeated more than a 1000 times without the fundamental lie being exposed for what it is? It is the fact that virtually all the money and resources meant for the poor never reach the poor. Repeating facts might appear jaded to the cynic; but it still does not take away the chilling implications for India. Many years ago, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lamented that barely 15 paisa out of every Rupee earmarked for anti-poverty and welfare schemes reaches the intended beneficiaries. India has made tremendous strides since then. That is why his son and the Prime Minister-in-waiting Rahul Gandhi now laments that barely 5 paisa out of every Rupee meant for the poor actually manages to reach them. When I read about the Maoist takeover of Lalgarh and the “Liberated Zones” that Naxalites have created in states like Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra, I sense the power of the most fundamental lie and the most basic truth. It is the power behind this most fundamental lie and the most basic truth that had prompted me to proclaim Ban The Budget in 2008. And it is this, mixed with a sense of the unique ethos of India that prompts me to appeal to the ever pragmatic Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to present a Khao Aur Khilao Budget this year. But let us demolish one more powerful, insidious and oft repeated myth about governance in India before I move on to the concrete suggestions, proposals and solutions that I have to offer.

Corruption is Global

Virtually all analysts, economists, political scientists, pundits and activists unanimously say that corruption is the root cause why money and resources meant for the poor never reaches the poor. In fact, this consensus has been held with unwavering certitude for most of the last six decades. Ipso facto, if corruption is somehow eliminated through reforms or revolution, distributive justice and inclusive growth will become a reality in India. No sane person would disagree with this diagnosis and the prescription. But I think it is quite simplistic to merely leave it at that and cry hoarse for reforms as activists do or raise the banner of revolt against the State as Maoists are doing today.

          

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