A biggest budget ever for the consumers in India. India crosses the Rs.10,000 lakh crore expenditure for the first time. The budget has given a lot of focus on the rural poor and the Aam Aadmi, which is the right approach to take care of our immediate concerns. However, very little has been spoken about the processes and institutional mechanisms which would be put in place to ensure accountability and transparency to eradicate poverty from India by 2015 as promised in this budget. What happens if we do not achieve the goal and who should be made responsible for such failures is the big question before all of us emerging from the Union Budget?

The Food Security Act should not be seen as another name for the Public Distribution System (PDS), which completely failed in most of the States in our country and did not provide the required food security as was perceived when the Government had designed the PDS and Targeted PDS (TPDS) in the country. The consumer organisations have to seriously ensure that the Government really performs in this area and we demand an efficient and effective system to provide the essential needs of the consumer including food is made most accessible and affordable to all.

SlumFree urban initiative is again an excellent step to provide affordable housing to the poor living in the urban areas and an allocation of Rs.2000 crore for rural housing are dreams created within the consumers. The challenge is how to ensure timely delivery to the vulnerable groups and ensure they are not resold to the housing mafias and the cartels working in the real estate business. There is an immediate need to regulate the house building activity in India and also mandate the quality of the housing provided to the consumers through strong and reliable certification and accreditation process in a massive scale before funds are released for such purpose to the State run Housing Societies and Private Builders.

We have to move from subsidy to incentive based regime in the coming years. Such high level of subsidy in the social sector must reach the consumers in terms of safe, healthy and quality food made available to the consumers at the most affordable price. This should be the benchmark to provide incentives to the private investors working in the food processing industries and not subsides which least ensures quality and safety of the food provided to the consumers. The Government has to make all subsidies directly linked to the user’s feedback on the end product and not provide the subsidy to enrich individuals working in the chain for processing such subsidies. The Union Budget least touches upon such issues like administrative reforms within the Government and putting in place a lean Government to work in the interest of the consumers/citizens.

Our biggest worry as consumers is the burden of deficit financing which has further increased in this budget and gone upto 6.8%. It is the consumer who takes the burden of such deficit and pays from their scarce resource. The Government has to bring the administrative and public service reforms on a fast track to narrow down the budget deficit and allow the consumers to access quality life at the most affordable price. The Citizen’s Charter Campaign launched by the Government in the year 1996 has lost the priority and the shine within the present Government, which has to be brought immediately in the forefront if we are really serious about the Aam Aadmi. Programs like SEVAUTTAM to certify and benchmark the Government and Public Services in terms of user-friendly mechanisms to ensure accountability and transparency towards the consumers/citizens and should become the buzz word in the coming year in case the Rs.10,000 lakh crore expenditure visualized by the present Government is made productive in real terms and narrow down the budget deficit.

As much as the Government is responsible to ensure increase in expenditure in the social sector in an indiscriminatory manner so is the responsibility of the consumers to pay the taxes and agree to increase the tax base in our country. It is found that we are all carried away by certain small deductions and exemptions given by the Government like scrapping the 10% surcharge on direct taxes and increasing the level of taxation free income for senior citizens, women and individuals but not looking at issues like making tax returns more friendly and simple. Ofcourse certain steps have been taken by the Hon’ble Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukerjee but still in my view lot needs to be done to further increase the revenue generation from taxes from the citizens. It is found that with such high deficit in revenue collection leads to inflation and at the end of the day all such concessions given to the Aam Aadmi does not get reflected as saving for the middle class and lower middle class consumers.

Finally, we all must try to ensure effective implementation of the Union Budget in its true spirit and expose all such actors who would try to derail the proposed outcomes from such high investments in the social sector like Rural Health Mission, NREGA and others. Unfortunately only few State Governments have taken advantage of such flagship programs of the present Government but most of the States are way behind in terms of strengthening the rural development and its vulnerable population, who are still struggling to be heard and uplifted. Consumer organisations all over India have now dedicated themselves to work in this direction in the next five years by building institutions at the block level and villages.

For further comments, please contact:

Bejon Misra, Managing Director & Trustee, Consumer Online Foundation

+91-9811044424 and 9311044424 or bejonmisra@hotmail.com