Two key issues Budget-2011 is seen as having failed to address are inflation and mass hunger. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in his budget speech that the long-promised National Food Security Bill would be moved in Parliament “during the course of this year” but failed to make any financial allocation to back up this statement. Against the backdrop of fresh warnings by experts that the outlook is grim given the...

Budgets are no longer statements of accounts or expenditure. In the contemporary context, they are to be seen more as a statement of intent, ambition, reform and politics of inclusion. If these are the parameters on which Budget 2011 is to be judged, it fails despite an implicit statement of intent. For a government which has been elected on the agenda of inclusion, even the statement of intent is not new....

The Italian phrase "lascia il tempo que trova" (it leaves the air it finds) does a better job of describing Pranab Mukherjee's budget than India's corporate media would ever dare to do. To put it mildly, the budget this year, is yet again, an utter disappointment for the food and agriculture sectors. To begin with, flagship schemes like the midday meals and the Integrated Child Development Services did not, unlike in...

Child rights groups have expressed disappointment over the Union Budget for ignoring the needs of millions of children. A statement issued by Haq, a child rights group, said an initial run-through of the allocations showed a minimal increase for protection of “aam bachcha” and a drop in the allocation for the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) that set the tone for all protection measures. The overall increase in the percentage of the...

The flagship programmes of the UPA government in the social sector have had little impact. Spending has been between 25 and 75 per cent in many schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana, the rural housing scheme, the rural electrification scheme and the rural health programme. Irrigation statistics have come under scrutiny. Some education initiatives have managed to achieve physical targets but several NGOs have raised issues concerning the quality. National Rural Employment...