06-16-2008, 03:13 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The party continues </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Next Government will have to settle the bill
Despite the Prime Minister's call for austerity,<b> Congress Governments across the country are on a spending spree.</b> In his address to the nation following the recent fuel price hike, the Prime Minister had taken cognisance of rising inflation and ballooning global oil prices. There is little doubt that inflationary pressures are fairly serious and call for emergency containment measures. Yet most surprisingly, they have had little effect on Congress Governments. After the Prime Minister's speech, Union Ministers had lined up to cancel foreign trips and Chief Ministers had begun to voluntarily surrender their extra security cars. Yet these were nothing more than expressions of sycophancy, a hallmark of the Congress. What the Government is actually doing is doling out one sop after another. <b>For example, in Madhya Pradesh, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has been promising free electricity to farmers if in the next election a Congress Government is voted to power. Additionally, he has promised five horsepower pumps to farmers and single point power connections to those below the poverty line. Also, the Union Government has decided to expand the scope of the hugely flawed farmers' loan waiver scheme. Undoubtedly, it is the business of Governments to come up with schemes that ameliorate the sufferings of the under-previledged. Yet the timing of all these schemes is very suspicious</b>. For one, the Congress has suffered a series of losses in Assembly elections. For another, there are still a number of Assembly elections due in 2008 as well as the Lok Sabha election in 2009, if it is not advanced.
<b>It is clear that the Congress is offering electoral sops to the populace. It is hoping to benefit in the upcoming elections as a result of these packages</b>. This is most unfortunate. These schemes are mostly unworkable and add up to bad economics. With global inflation and rising prices, it is legitimate to ask where the Government expects to get the funds for these cockamamie schemes. On the one hand it is unlikely the UPA will deliver satisfactorily on all these sops, on the other it is clear that the Prime Minister has decided to leave the successor regime with an economic problem of gargantuan proportion. In short, it is a recipe for unmitigated disaster -- for the present as well as the coming years. The last time the Congress left the bill for the babalog's party to be picked up by the successor Government, India had to pay a terrible price -- the nation's gold had to be pawned. Recall the mismanagement of the Rajiv Gandhi years and compare it to the mismanagement of the UPA years: You will find remarkable similarities which should cause worry.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Next Government will have to settle the bill
Despite the Prime Minister's call for austerity,<b> Congress Governments across the country are on a spending spree.</b> In his address to the nation following the recent fuel price hike, the Prime Minister had taken cognisance of rising inflation and ballooning global oil prices. There is little doubt that inflationary pressures are fairly serious and call for emergency containment measures. Yet most surprisingly, they have had little effect on Congress Governments. After the Prime Minister's speech, Union Ministers had lined up to cancel foreign trips and Chief Ministers had begun to voluntarily surrender their extra security cars. Yet these were nothing more than expressions of sycophancy, a hallmark of the Congress. What the Government is actually doing is doling out one sop after another. <b>For example, in Madhya Pradesh, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has been promising free electricity to farmers if in the next election a Congress Government is voted to power. Additionally, he has promised five horsepower pumps to farmers and single point power connections to those below the poverty line. Also, the Union Government has decided to expand the scope of the hugely flawed farmers' loan waiver scheme. Undoubtedly, it is the business of Governments to come up with schemes that ameliorate the sufferings of the under-previledged. Yet the timing of all these schemes is very suspicious</b>. For one, the Congress has suffered a series of losses in Assembly elections. For another, there are still a number of Assembly elections due in 2008 as well as the Lok Sabha election in 2009, if it is not advanced.
<b>It is clear that the Congress is offering electoral sops to the populace. It is hoping to benefit in the upcoming elections as a result of these packages</b>. This is most unfortunate. These schemes are mostly unworkable and add up to bad economics. With global inflation and rising prices, it is legitimate to ask where the Government expects to get the funds for these cockamamie schemes. On the one hand it is unlikely the UPA will deliver satisfactorily on all these sops, on the other it is clear that the Prime Minister has decided to leave the successor regime with an economic problem of gargantuan proportion. In short, it is a recipe for unmitigated disaster -- for the present as well as the coming years. The last time the Congress left the bill for the babalog's party to be picked up by the successor Government, India had to pay a terrible price -- the nation's gold had to be pawned. Recall the mismanagement of the Rajiv Gandhi years and compare it to the mismanagement of the UPA years: You will find remarkable similarities which should cause worry.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->