FACTS LACKING IN BUDGET?

1. According to the CAG, the actual revenue receipts were 15% less than those projected in the budget presented by the Akali Dal-BJP government in March, 2009. The actual tax revenue was much lower than the estimates. If the revenue was inflated, the expenditure was understated. The revenue deficit in the budget was mentioned as Rs 4,234 crore whereas actually it was Rs 5,251 crore.
2. A budget, like a bikini, hides some of the crucial things. No budget speaks about the cost to the exchequer of a chief minister, a deputy chief minister, a minister, a parliamentary secretary or an MLA. Just ask any finance minister what is the number of jobless in the state/country. How many jobs have been created or lost in the past one year? How many have left agriculture or moved from villages to cities? How many distressed farmers have committed suicide? No budget carries such information. The US jobless rate is watched and discussed worldwide
3. Even if the Punjab, Haryana and Himachal budgets fail to take note of unemployment and its consequences, a survey of the Labour Bureau of Chandigarh is revealing. The unemployment rate in Punjab is the highest in the region at 10.5%, which is higher than the national average of 9.4%. It is followed by Haryana (8.7%), Himachal Pradesh (5.9%), Jammu and Kashmir (4.9%), Chandigarh (0.2%) and Delhi (0.8%).
4. The fiscal deficit (the gap between the state revenue and expenditure) is a key indicator of a state’s financial health. Haryana has a fiscal deficit of 2.6% of the GSDP, for Himachal it is 2.70% (reasonable in both cases) and for Punjab it is an outrageous 3.45%. This is despite Punjab raising cash by selling government land and the VAT pushing tax collections and also explains ministerial extravagance.
5. The Finance Minister has missed a chance to raise revenue by taxing the neo-rich like builders, transporters, hoteliers, mega mall owners and the liquor-mining mafia. In Punjab liquor shops are allotted by a draw of lot and house and plots are auctioned. There is no move to cut government expenditure and extravagance. Punjab politicians’ lavish lifestyle, foreign trips and VIP culture are partly responsible for driving crowds of Punjabis to Manpreet Singh Badal’s rallies
6. The second most important factor about Punjab’s economy is its almost unmanageable debt. A state’s debt is seen in the context of its gross state domestic product (GSDP). Punjab’s debt-to-GSDP ratio is 30.43% in 2010-11 and it will be slightly higher at 30.43% in the next fiscal year.
   Gujarat, for instance, will have a debt of Rs 1.29 lakh crore by the end of 2011-12, a jump of Rs 21,000 crore over the current year. It is much higher than Punjab’s Rs 77,585 crore projected for the same period. But Gujarat’s debt-to-GSDP ratio is 22 per cent. So it is not a serious problem.
7. Punjab’s debt figure excludes the loans taken by various boards and corporations which would become the government’s responsibility in case of a default.None of the three states under discussion has tried to privatise or dispense with loss-making state enterprises. Punjab has 62 boards and corporations, including Punjab Gau Seva Board, Punjab Parvasi Bhalai Board and the Potato Development Board, mostly floated to park idle politicians from the ruling party to check their nuisance, but burdening the exchequer and the taxpayer unnecessarily
8. Which Punjab budget has failed to address the issue of post-harvest waste. A massive 30% of agricultural produce goes waste every year for want of storage, transport and processing facilities. India is the second largest producer of rice and wheat, and the largest producer of pulses and milk. However, only 2% of fruits & vegetables get processed compared to 70% in Brazil and 60-70% in developed nations.
   * Only Haryana is trying out private distributors of power in select cities. Power reforms are incomplete in Haryana and failing in Punjab.
   * Punjab has not proposed a single project to make use of funds available under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, launched in 2005.
   * Punjab has not yet set up a municipal infrastructure development fund. This has hurt the development of cities. There is no recycling of garbage in cities.
   * Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia has suggested that Punjab - and Haryana too — should have a regulatory authority for water and levy a cess on energy used for drawing underground water. No takers for sane advice. The state has rather resumed free power supply to farmers.
   * The budget makes no effort to encourage alternative crops like oilseeds and horticulture to replace paddy. Water-deficit Punjab exports rice to water-surplus states.
   * The budget has neglected the issue of agricultural produce marketing. The APMC Act needs to be amended to provide for private sector participation in the development of agricultural markets, currently run by the state and a mafia.
   * The predominantly agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana are not pushing for FDI in retail, which can provide better returns to small farmers through tie-ups with firms for better seeds, soil testing, guidance on chemicals and post-harvest management.