The railway budget

The railway budget as per the opinion of many industrialists and budget experts looks like a, “vision document” and for the same reason the market has reacted negatively. Surely financial strains will be  experienced while trying to execute the ambitious projects announced and the long pending projects  mainly because, the industrial investments will not readily  flow into a  loss incurring sector and  the burden  of  huge wage bill due  wage revision by the pay commission  will also pose a problem .Under these circumstances how will the railway minister be able to make the railway sector, “financially independent and operationally efficient” as the editorial,  (Towards the modest goal,17.2.15)  hopes? Moreover, the recent crimes committed all over the nation has proved that  installation CCTV cameras in the ladies compartments alone can not ensure safety of women  passengers..   

The need for aggressive poll campaign by the Congress Party

When we are tired of  constantly reading and hearing about the non performance of the congress party in the last 15 years of it’s rule in Delhi   it is , soothing to read the lines of Mudit kapoor in his article , in the Hindu (21.2.15)  “in defence of the pursuit of power” that, “it actually performed” in Delhi. Otherwise why did the Delhi voters elected Sheela Dikhishit’s government to rule them for three terms ?  The author is hitting on the nail’s head when he says, that, stopping even a moderate “campaigning for power” is the biggest mistake the Congress party has committed   especially when, they were facing an aggressive campaign for power by the BJP under the leadership of  Modi . Will Mr. Rahul Gandhi  understand that, “the resurrection of the Congress is in national interest” and it is possible  only through effective  marketing strategies in which the BJP is excelling right now and the Congress party  is lagging behind

views on budget deficit

There is doubt  in the mind of budget watchers that, the effects of strict adherence to the 4.1% of target regarding fiscal deficit in this year’s budget will cause damage to the growth process JM Keynes has suggested expansion in government expenditure during  sluggish economic situation . The fear is , if strict adherence to the deficit target   is still attempted , it may probably  be at the expense of the social sector expenditure The economists feel that, any attempt to cut down expenditure on social infrastructure such as education, health and training  will have serious implications on human capital formation in a nation with large number of un skilled and labourers, Therefore such an attempt is likely to affect physical capital formation too. Similarly any reduced  priority treatment to agriculture and small sector  in the budget allocation  will hamper growth process severely .  Hence the 4. 1% fiscal deficit target can wait till the Indian economy gears up and gets into the path of recovery .

AAP's responsibilities

Political analysts while interpreting  the  AAP win say  that, “this is more a positive one  for AAP than a negative one for the BJP.” The underprivileged classes who were weary of the 15 years of the Congress party’s rule in Delhi  have joined together to vote for the AAP, believing in their integrity to fulfill their promises .  It is because  their manifesto  covers all their basic expectations and concerns. More over ,  AAP’s poll campaign was free from negativity. Now,  Kejriwal has a huge responsibility to administer Delhi with practicality and political wisdom without complaining too much about the limited powers  at his command . He should have the sagacity to perform with humility and sense of political inclusiveness in spite of the brutal majority people have gifted to him.   He should remember that the Nation will be watching him very closely  . Any wrong step will spoil their  future agenda.  

AAP's win in Delhi

The Delhi election forecasts have failed to go anywhere near the true picture . The astonishing victory of the  AAP is a objectives based gift given for that party, by the Delhi voters .i.e., it is meant for fulfilling  their long neglected basic needs, corruption free governance and  for political stability .But this historic mandate should not make the AAP complacent about their poll promises , make them arrogant due to lack of opposition strength in the Assembly . Good governance in Delhi alone can become their USP for future elections successes elsewhere. Their brutal majority should not be used for achieving their agenda  through undemocratic methods 

The ordinance on land acquisition

The article by Michael Levien, in The Hindu published on 4^th feb  “dispossession, development and democracy, “raises many relevant concerns confronting the land owning class of India after the  passage of the Ordinance meant to dilute many provisions of LARR.  Any development model should incorporate the principle of equity through inclusiveness . But the  Indian “model of development,” followed in recent decades has only enriched the corporate sector at the expense  of the land owning class. Moreover, is it not waste of public money, parliament’s time when, a  core legislation like LARR passed by the previous government “with bipartisan support after seven years of public debate and revision,” is diluted through an Ordinance? Is it not true that the windfall profits accrue only the buyers of vast stretches of land  for various purposes including non development purposes and not to the land owners?

Jeyanthi Natarajan

Jeyanthi Nataraja’n arguments over the compelling reasons to resign from the Congress Party fail to convince rational minded citizens . Why will a minister under Oath will not give due importance to the concerns of the then PM Man Mohan Singh who was worried about the inordinate delays in granting clearance  to the big projects and it’s repercussions on the investment and production scenario of this nation , the concerns of her cabinet colleagues who were facing the opposition party’s and the media’s criticisms about the functioning of the environment ministry , irritation of the corporate sector  over the  endless wait for environment clearances and ignore the  Jeyanthi Tax allegations? She is also  not clear whether the “directives” from the Vice President of the Congress Party were accompanied by pressures through other ways.  If she is a strait forward person she should have reported to the then, PM  about the “directives” and resigned when she could not function freely .  She has paid a  price for her failure to place her loyalty in the right place