The union budget and the railway budget this year smacks of populism,populism which is beneficial to none.The inability of our politicians to look beyond the next elections is what has time and again hurt our country and its economy.
RAILWAY BUDGET-Token cut of fares (2 to 6%) benefits whom is beyond comprehension.A cut of 50Rs to a person who is willing to travel in 2 tier ac paying say 1000 will not make any difference.Instead if the railway minister had used this amount for a worthy cause,say improving the cleanliness of the trains and railway stations it would have benefited millions,improved the image of railways and brought in more passengers.If he had used this money to improve the safety(like reducing the number of unmanned railway crossing) ,maybe he could have saved a few lives.
UNION BUDGET-The biggest joke of the budget which mr chidambaram claims to be the biggest achievement is the farmers loan waiver. Mr chidambaram proposes to waive loans of farmers who hold less then 5 acres of land and have defaulted on payment
1.The poorest in this country are not the farmers.Its the landless labourers.What about them? 2.Dose he think the bank’s lend to the poorest of farmers.No,these farmers usually borrow from the local money lenders.what about them? 3.What percentage of farmers who have borrowed are defaulters?very few, as most will try to repay their loans even if it means skipping a few meals.What about these honest farmers? 4.What about those farmers who have not borrowed at all but are still in very bad shape?(it is estimated more then 50% of farmers dont have any loans) 5.And what about those farmers who own a little more the 5 acres?
What this waiver will do is create a nation of farmers who will be waiting for the next loan waiver.It will in all probability hit the banks hard.At the same time banks will be more reluctant to lend to farmers in the future.And if the farmers listen to mr Pawar and don’t pay the local money lenders,these money lenders will go bankrupt and the farmers will have no where to go when they need money.
Lets hope that this futile exercise by our finance minister dose not lead to more farmer suicide’s one year down the line.
