India Budget '06

This budget is a bit more than a normal budget. That's all. Not an extra-ordinary one.

PC has proved to be a bit different from other congress ministers. Yet, at the end of the day, he too is a politician. Even after 2 years, he is still circastic and cynical about the NDA govt and its finance ministers. He shud be greatful that he inherited a booming economy and a record high GDP. anyhow... here are my genuine comments on the budget 2006.

Before that, I have a confession to make. I am not an economist nor a specialist in fiance and business. I am just another common man interested in the India Inc's performance and the country's growth.

There are a lot of good news as well as some bad news.

Lets see the good things first ...

An Investors Protection Fund will be set up and funded by fines and penalties to safeguard the interests of retail investors. --- might see a lot of conveninec stores soon in india

Creation of textile parks on the bill. Government also announced setting up of 12 textile industry parks of which 7 have been approved and ten more in the pipeline. --- the WTO has removed the quota based allotment and has made textile a free market. anyone can compete from mar 1st 2005. Now, this will improve our share of the world market

Coal to be deblocked for captive power projects till 2012 --- might attract private partnership ... But still it is not opening it up to FDI. this is a good move, but, wont help us... can't be called as any ground breaking and all..

To double world export share to 1.5% by FY'09 --- ambitious ? No. -- Yet this is significant. Our population is 16.7% of the world. We should atleast aim at reaching 1/3rd of it. sat atleast 5%. But, none have mentioned it till date. Atleast PC takes the credit of setting some goal.

Indian Infrastructure Investment company to be established -- significant move. The SEBI, TRAI, etc were created like this.. Today they have regulated the investment, telecom ... this could also lead to such a market regulator.

Record 34,000 MW to be added under 10th plan 82 projects to be completed in 1-2 years --- ambitious. - Lets see how we achieve it.

Manufacturing and industrial townships to follow cluster model --- followed by the STP and SEZ, they are coming up with a similar model for manufacturing... the textile parks are also in this design.. good move

Banking Sector Reforms: K P Narasimhan committee for Insurance sector has suggested news bills which Govt will introduce in the parliament. --- banking is one sick industry in India. The largest Indian bank the SBI is nowhere in the top 50 banks in the world. It is a distant 84th. It is not even in the top 10 banks in Asia. That needs to be freed from the govt clutches. Hope they will be th enext to take off.

Road development program for the North East sector pegged at Rs 550cr. --- very good. The NE states don't feel being a part of the main stream India. Hope these link them both economically and culturally. Moreover, currently the trucks from Orissa are passing thro' bangladesh to reach the NE states. Whether it reduces the time or not... We need to be self reliant. We need to have the solution and then give the option to the trasnporters.

Food processing to be a priority sector for bank loans. --- good. The food processing units need a boost. The packaging, preserving, processing units need to mushroom as SSI first. Which will not only improve the exports, but also employ a significant amount of Human resource.

Mumbai Metro Rail and Bangalore Metro Rail as well as Metro in Hyderabad are under consideration. --- Consideration ??? Is it a good news or bad ... Hope people like Deva Gowda don't play spoil sport with this project too...
96 percent of Golden Quadrilateral to be completed by June 2006 --- good that PC is apolitical with GQ this year.

North East Budgetary provision up 9 times to Rs 18,696 crore. --- very good again. This will integrate the NE with the main land.

A massive immunization program to be launched to eradicate polio completely by 2007.
Gold Units -- Using gold and trading it as equivalent as mutual funds -- Nice move. But, given the traditional mindset of Indians, it will take a bit time for this scheme to bear fruits...

No new personal tax being laid...

Refinery sector to get boost, will promote FDI --- seekirame chivas regal, indialerndu japanukku export aagalam... don't be surprised...

Much more are there for other sectors too.

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Now the bad news...

Donations to only religious institutions will be exempted from tax. -- Other old age, orphanage and eudcational trusts shud also be excluded. Whay only religious institutions ?

Merit based scholarships of 20,000 schemes for minority students. -- shud be for economically weak students. They first introduced the mandal comission for 10 years. then the NDA extended it for another 10 years... now congress is again introducing schemes like this.. its high time, everyone stop this vote bank politics...

central assistance for recruitment and posting of Urdu language teachers. Why Urdu alone ? why this bias ? or is this appeasement ?

pre-examination coaching of candidates belonging to the minority communities --- this shud again be for economically backward community who have a good educational track record.

Budget has not insisted in Manufacturing on a large scale other than proposing cluster models for the manufacturing sector.

Iron and steel, Coal, Mining, Ship building --- none of them find any place in the budget.

this list is also a bit long.. yet, don't have the time to write everything... will try to do so later ...

Controversy over cartoon on Prophet Mohammed

Controversy over the cartoon on Prophet Mohammed

There have been scores of insults to religious sentiments in the west. Some like the picture of Hindu deity on the toilet paper, cover, footware, underware, beer bottles etc. There is no limit to such insults. This list is nothing. For a more detailed account, you can go to Hindunet.org and get the whole list on how Hindu gods and goddesses have been shamed in various countries at various times.

I can understand the sentiments that are hurt, even though I don't believe my faith is so weak as to come tumbling down because of such acts born out of ignorance(?). Personally I don't give a damn, probably I will wince once at reports of such stupidity, and move on.

I thought I am being superior in forgiving them. I have been harbouring serious misgivings over that of late in the light of the snowballing row over the Prophet cartoons.

Lets look at the background.

The cartoons appeared in a European country, Denmark. And does not violate any of the laws prevailing there. Yet, look at the protests that are mushrooming across the Indian landscape, from Kashmir to Hyderabad, taking in Uttar Pradesh and other regions on the way.

In the protests in UP, a state where the government could fall at any moment, a five-star hotel was damaged by the protestors. And, in a first of its kind in independent India, a Samajwadi Party minister offered a bounty of Rs 51 crore on the cartoonist's head, plus gold -- which will be raised from the Muslim community.

And now, a Shariat court has ordered the cartoonist's death under Islamic law.

I wonder whether we live in a secular democracy or in some medieval kingdom to our west. I have the deepest sympathies for those offended by the cartoons, as I have for those offended by other similar portrayals. At the same time, they have no right to damage a public property, which has nothing to do with the controversy.

Why is public property in India being damaged over the hurt sentiments, why is the Indian legal process being subverted by extra-official authorities who are issuing edicts? Why is an Indian minister, sworn to uphold the Indian Constitution, abetting murder and why is no action being taken against him?

What exactly is the Indian State's fault in the cartoon controversy? That it is home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, because of which it must be subject to every ebb and flow in the Muslim world?

I have a doubt: when Hindu deities ARE being defiled in many parts of the world, how come Hindus in India, from where the faith originated, never demonstrated although they must number a billion, how come the religious heads did not issue any edict like 'off with his head' etc? In the light of the cartoons row, wouldn't such behaviour have made sense?

Now that I have raised some uncomfortable questions, let me face the inevitable charge that will follow, which a very close friend of mine who never misses an oppurtunity to point finger at me WRONGLY, that I am a Hindu fundamentalist, someone who hates the minority community, and who is so blinded by his prejudice that he cannot digest any such thing.

I have a doubt. What is that Islam does not recognise national boundaries; Muslims all over are one community; what affects them in one corner of the world affects everyone equally...

Let me tell you, the Muslims who are protesting out on the streets, damaging public property, calling for death etc are doing their faith no good; on the contrary, their behaviour only reinforces the stereotype. I wish the community will stop blaming the world at large for its many ills and pause to look within.

The UPA Govt is doing nothing to uphold the constitution, which is supposed to be the highest authority. Rajiv did the same mistake. I have already written about this in my previous blog. He succumbed to the street protests by muslims and banned the Satanic verses. Even after the supreme court gave a verdict for compensation to a muslim woman, he subverted the supreme court in parliment due to the pressures from the muslim community. Who can forget the infamous Shah Bano case. The supreme court got fed up saying that this is what will happen in a secular country like us if we don't have a UCC, which we ought to have had. (Nehru and Patel shud have implemented it while starting the nation building fromt he start.)

In counter these to the hindus, he opened the gates in Ayodya temple for the Shilanyas. In response, the BJP took the Hindu votes and the Mulayam, Laloo, Mayawati and others too the muslims and other votes. BJP came to power because of the congress.

It is doing the same mistake now. Only fools do the same mistake twice. what is the need for us to protest with the Danish government, or for Sonia Gandhi to write to Imam Bukhari expressing her regret over the cartoons? Why oh why conduct a survey of Muslims in the defence forces, the last and only establishment to have escaped the poison our political class has injected into every single institution?

I don't recall the government or Parliament doing any of this for the many instances of religious insensitivity to singe other faiths, so why single out a case where street power is once again being mobilised?

The govt shud tell the protesters very clearly that, listen, we are deeply sorry for the hurt feelings. But, India has nothing to do with that. You better get along with life. Or else, put those who cause damage to public property or trouble to the pulic behind the bars. Lets enforce the Indian laws if the protests get out of hand rather than stand by and watch meekly.

Murali

Tail piece: I have previously criticised the RSS and Shivsena for their similar anti national activity in pune airport and mumbai coffee shops on valentine's day. Some think that I criticise only the minorities. I can't help if they have a selective amnesia. Answering those will be like killing a mocking bird.

Btb, this topic is like a pendulum. If you think that an increasing amount of hindus have started having this latent feeling about the minorities in general, its because the appeasement has reached a record high. Its like pendulum, it will go to the other side before it comes to a balance.