Centre has acted irresponsibly over budget

National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad has long ago stipulated that 500 gm of grain is the minimum food needed to sustain the health of Indians, especially those in the rural areas. However, central agencies last year found that per capita grain consumption has fallen to 380 gm.
Mr Jaswant Singh’s budget has failed to address a basic issues facing India today: not all Indians have enough food to eat.
This is the same government that told Parliament six months ago that 10 lakh people have been rendered jobless due to large-scale closure of factories. But the NDA is so caught up in its feel-good illusions that it has no time for such issues today.
In any case, the budget was a brazen bid to kick constitutional provisions aside. The established tradition of the President addressing Parliament before the first session of a new year was put aside just to push through the Finance Bill.
The house was prorogued after the winter session in December because one section in the BJP wanted early elections even if the Prime Minister himself was not too keen. So Parliament, after having been adjourned sine die, was left in limbo to give time to Mr Advani to isolate the Prime Minister on the issue of early elections.
The budget has merged 50 per cent of the dearness allowance of central government staffers with their basic pay, but it has fought shy of raising the income tax exemption level. By not raising the latter, the benefits accruing from the former stand neutralised.
One of the things that caught my eye in the newspaper blurbs — and reflected the government’s priorities — was the duty-free baggage allowance, which has been doubled to Rs 25,000. Another was the petroleum subsidy, which has been cut by half to Rs 3,650 crore. Taken togethers, these two facts mean that those who board flights to foreign nations are assured easier travel while the rest of us would have to cough up more for LPG and kerosene to keep our hearths warm.
After this, morality is a pointless issue to pick with this government. It has announced sops which would have to be accounted for only after the elections. Never in independent India has such irresponsible behaviour been witnessed for as sacred an exercise as the Budget. They might as well be irresponsible now, for they shan’t be around to present the full Budget three months hence.