LAITY
The yearly Budget speech always garners great attention in this country, at the rate of overshadowing greater ills currently plaguing the society. This year is no different; for a few days, the police issue has been relegated to give way to discussing measures announced in the Budget 2022-23. During the lengthy, almost tedious speech of the Minister, some salient points have been noted. We won’t dissect those here, for this has already been done by experts. We do however have some questions that we hope will be answered…maybe…
First of all, listening to the number of social measures, and rightly so, that have been announced, we cannot help but ask ourselves where the money for all these expenditures will come from. Will there be further hikes in prices, in taxes despite a rebate in income taxes for certain brackets, to add to the money from the CSG to honour these measures? The elderly to whom we have spoken to since yesterday are somewhat mitigated regarding the increase in pension, for they are of the opinion that the additional Rs1,000 might be subsumed in the already high cost of living. Despite the announcement of a reduced profit margin for pharmacists, the fact remains that the price of medicines is not getting any lower and neither are that of foodstuff, not to mention petrol.
Another interrogation or rather remark concerns the allocation promised to prospective parents. A first reflex reaction to this announcement was an “Are you kidding?” one. Anyone who has children would have most probably laughed at this measure, for that is what it is: laughable. The cost of conceiving and birthing a child, putting another life on the planet is light years from a mere Rs 1,000. Had it been a quarterly, or even a yearly allocation over a prescribed period of years would have been understandable but this does not make any sense. In fact, this measure seems like an afterthought, as if included to placate the relevant Ministry in its campaign for encouraging people to have kids.
A third concern is about the abolition of Municipal taxes as from July. If any measure announced in this budget is a cause for apprehension, it is this one. Most of the towns are already suffering from bad planning and management. A look at the state of the roads already gives an indication of the poverty in vision and action of the municipal councils. As from July, one cannot help but ask if the towns are going to be further deteriorated for where will the money come from for maintenance? Would the government rather take on the responsibility of adding the management of towns to its already loaded agenda than tax villagers? The cynic in us cannot help but come to a two-fold conclusion: this measure aims at buying townspeople’s votes for any municipal elections (if so, you can already count us unbuyable) and also that the government would rather lose money that it could have obtained by taxing villagers than lose votes during general elections, for we all know where this government’s most bankable prospective voters are.
This Budget Speech does nothing to alleviate the heaviness that hangs in the air of this country regarding its governance. Unfortunately, a glance at the other side does not offer much solace. Until we are able to find that right balance between a government that is truly there for the people and the situation that prevails, let’s sit tight with the hope that one day, we will get there.