"The serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and the purity of mind are called the austerity of thought.” – says the Bhagavad Gita.
The austerity measure on part of finance ministry has been a long standing instruction aimed at reducing expenditure for administrative purposes. While the note circulated was specific concerning to the local travel
and holding conferences in private hotels; some of the politicians have taken it as a drive to woo voters.
With fiscal deficit rising to 6.8 % of GDP officially and 12.5% in reality; with many of the social welfare programs aimed at garnering more votes from rural areas; with pile up of huge subsidy burden it was high time
that the moms and the dads of country decided to give up some of their basic luxuries.
While it is good to be tech-savvy and twitter your ideas at the speed of light; some people take it too far in all forms. No one announces measures of austerity over twitter by sounding a trumpet; measures of austerity
are adopted in hard times and with soberness. There is no flamboyancy attached to it. Also the elephant gods near Ganga have been told not to dance by Supreme Court.
While it is good to adopt such measures on domestic front, it remains important that we do not project the same outwards. There is a growth story attached to the nation and such austerity measure can reflect crisis. What happened in Israel in 1949-1959 when nation was coming of its age was because of sheer chaos prevailing at that time. Similarly in Cuba was because of dissolution of the USSR or for that matter in U.K. post World War II. The government decided to reduce expenditure in general on various fronts both from public and government expenditure.
None of such predicament is faced by us today. Then what is the drive all about? While some
might say that it is the next political bandwagon of Congress after the 'Aam Aadmi' campaign or other might just put it off as a political gimmick. Finance minister term it as a move to reduce non-plan expenditure by 10%.
If it is the next thing from political party, it is to be ensured that PR managers do a great job as they did with the political campaign in picking the young guns from the grass-root levels. Also if the aim is of reducing expenditure, it will have a secondary positive effect in terms of improved cost of governance. Taking an example, if the conferences are held within the premises of ministry, if possible, it could help save on time of to and fro movements (time efficacy). Babus will soon be called by their original name.
While these are good measures aimed at improving accountability, there should be no compromise on the protocol or security front. If charity begins at home then with the administrators are here to prove a point of prudence. Also to tell education institution to increase their fees, reduce subsidy and avoid travel at reputed B-schools is not a solution. But why blame the babus and netas alone; it is only when SEBI has come down hard on the fact sheets of some corporate we came to know how some of the corporate have increased their pay checks when it was the toughest and little profitability on the cards. That was a check on corporate governance front.
Newton said integration of the smallest part makes the biggest of numerical figures. It is upon us that we show greater level of austerity in choosing our Democracy next time.
-- Dinesh Agarwal
The austerity measure on part of finance ministry has been a long standing instruction aimed at reducing expenditure for administrative purposes. While the note circulated was specific concerning to the local travel
and holding conferences in private hotels; some of the politicians have taken it as a drive to woo voters.
With fiscal deficit rising to 6.8 % of GDP officially and 12.5% in reality; with many of the social welfare programs aimed at garnering more votes from rural areas; with pile up of huge subsidy burden it was high time
that the moms and the dads of country decided to give up some of their basic luxuries.
While it is good to be tech-savvy and twitter your ideas at the speed of light; some people take it too far in all forms. No one announces measures of austerity over twitter by sounding a trumpet; measures of austerity
are adopted in hard times and with soberness. There is no flamboyancy attached to it. Also the elephant gods near Ganga have been told not to dance by Supreme Court.
While it is good to adopt such measures on domestic front, it remains important that we do not project the same outwards. There is a growth story attached to the nation and such austerity measure can reflect crisis. What happened in Israel in 1949-1959 when nation was coming of its age was because of sheer chaos prevailing at that time. Similarly in Cuba was because of dissolution of the USSR or for that matter in U.K. post World War II. The government decided to reduce expenditure in general on various fronts both from public and government expenditure.
None of such predicament is faced by us today. Then what is the drive all about? While some
might say that it is the next political bandwagon of Congress after the 'Aam Aadmi' campaign or other might just put it off as a political gimmick. Finance minister term it as a move to reduce non-plan expenditure by 10%.
If it is the next thing from political party, it is to be ensured that PR managers do a great job as they did with the political campaign in picking the young guns from the grass-root levels. Also if the aim is of reducing expenditure, it will have a secondary positive effect in terms of improved cost of governance. Taking an example, if the conferences are held within the premises of ministry, if possible, it could help save on time of to and fro movements (time efficacy). Babus will soon be called by their original name.
While these are good measures aimed at improving accountability, there should be no compromise on the protocol or security front. If charity begins at home then with the administrators are here to prove a point of prudence. Also to tell education institution to increase their fees, reduce subsidy and avoid travel at reputed B-schools is not a solution. But why blame the babus and netas alone; it is only when SEBI has come down hard on the fact sheets of some corporate we came to know how some of the corporate have increased their pay checks when it was the toughest and little profitability on the cards. That was a check on corporate governance front.
Newton said integration of the smallest part makes the biggest of numerical figures. It is upon us that we show greater level of austerity in choosing our Democracy next time.
-- Dinesh Agarwal
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