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Journalism of Courage
The coming Budget of the UPA government,which is to be sworn in soon,has generated a lot of expectations,with outgoing members of the Planning Commission as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs Economic Advisory Council asserting that there is a firm case for a third stimulus.
Abhijit Sen,the commission member who was looking after finance,made a strong case for another stimulus package enabling increased expenditure from the Centre and the states. The interim budget did not address the issue of increased expenditure. Since the fiscal deficit is likely to be large,there is a clear case for a stimulus package. So,the government might have to do some tightrope walking between expenditure and allocations, the outgoing member pointed out.
Another outgoing plan panel member,Anwarul Hoda,who was in charge of the infrastructure sector,also emphasised on the need for another stimulus package in the coming Budget which should be devoted to upgrading road network,irrigation,etc. Hoda said the stimulus package was needed to rejuvenate depressed sentiments and infuse a fresh lease of life in re-building of roads and highways. On the industry front,he said issues pertaining to infrastructure,taxation,labour,skill development and entry barriers would have to be sorted out to fasten the pace of industrialisation.
Similarly,a senior official of the Economic Advisory Council too echoed similar sentiments and pointed out that more monetary and fiscal measures were needed to bail the economy out of the slowdown as the measures implemented so far have not delivered mush results.
