The games they play

The Congress Party8217;s threat to conduct a nationwide agitation against the BJP8217;s decision to raise the price of urea as well as excise duties on tractors has little to do with its love for farmers. It has more to do with petty politics and the need to score points with the voter. The fact of the matter is that urea prices have been kept artificially low for far too long, that farmers consequently are using far too much of it, and as a result of the nutrient-imbalance, farm yields have actually gone down. Field surveys in Uttar Pradesh by the Fertiliser Association of India FAI show that yields have gone down by 12 per cent for paddy and 10 per cent for wheat. The fact that subsidies in the farm sector are actually hurting farmers in this manner is surely something that Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, who is spearheading the anti-BJP tirade, should be aware of. If he is not, he clearly is not half the son of the soil that he claims to be. Just a few weeks prior to this, the Congress was up in arms against thegovernment8217;s decision to clear some counter-guarantees for fast-track private power projects. At that time stalwarts in their economic cell said that the government had got so scared by the threat of economic sanctions that it was now bowing down to the demands of foreign companies. It does not seem to matter, incidentally, that the same stalwarts were arguing for hastening the process of giving counter-guarantees just a few months ago. They were arguing that it was vital to get a few private power projects going in order to build up the credibility of the country8217;s private power policy. If the argument was valid then, as it certainly was, then surely it is valid today as well.

The Congress8217; economic ideologue, Jairam Ramesh, similarly, has gone to town explaining why the sharp hike in various outlays announced in the Budget are not quite what they seem to be. The outlays in the power sector have not really gone up by 40 per cent, he tells you, because the budgetary support the amount actually given fromthe Budget has gone down. While that may be right at some level of thought, the point is that the actual contribution from the Budget per se is always much smaller than the outlay itself. The balance is always generated by the public sector companies, from borrowing as well as their internal resources. It is interesting to note that, in terms of proportions, the BJP8217;s Budget actually contributes more to plan outlays than, say, that of the previous government a Budget that, incidentally, the same Jairam Ramesh was a firm advocate of.

The opposition8217;s criticism that the Budget does not take into account the impact of sanctions is equally misplaced. Do they actually expect the government to admit to defeat long before it is actually proved that the the entire world will gang up on India to cut back on loans to it? Nor, apparently, have these worthies been following news reports indicating that important areas such as banking are likely to be kept out of the purview of economic sanctions. Of course, the otherside of the picture must also be kept in mind while criticising the opposition: namely, had the BJP been in opposition, it would have done precisely the same things. Such are the games politicians play.