Citizen's Budget: What they want

EXPECTATIONS: Eminent politicians, industrialists, economist and young citizens discuss Budget 2007.

            

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Keywords: Inflation, Agriculture

New Delhi: How will Budget 2007 impact the average citizen of India? What are the key issues that the Finance Minister has to address in Union Budget 2007 so that it works in your favour? Will Budget 2007 be able to propel India on a double-digit growth path?

These were the key questions that a group of eminent politicians, industrialists, economist and young citizens discussed at a special CNN-IBN show Citizens' Budget. The show was hosted by Paromita Chatterjee.

The eminent lineup on the panel comprised of noted economist Surjit Bhalla, Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan, CPI-M leader Prasenjit Bose and industrialist Rahul Bajaj.

Whether or not they think Budget 2007 will be able to deliver and take India onto double-digit growth track? It is with this question that the discussion kicked off, and in an instant poll among the participants, 50 per cent people said they believed it will put India on the double-digit growth track.

The key issue on the show was inflation:

Prices are spiraling out of control. Inflation is hovering close to a two year high and prices of food grains, pulses and vegetables have risen the most. When asked if the Finance Minister has done enough to control inflation, 80 per cent of the participants, however, voted no.

"Yes the prices are spiraling out of control," admits Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.

"Anybody would have to admit that it is a very worrying trend to look at the prices of very essential commodities affecting the lives of ordinary people today. The government has to take steps on a war-footing to control it. The government has not failed in doing so. But 9.2 per cent growth is something to be proud of. There has been growth at various levels. The government has also put in place various programmes to tackle inflation. In spite of all this, prices are at this level. Clearly, something has to be done to put the prices in check," she says.

According to Surjit Bhalla, "even though inflation has been high at about 6.7 per cent, if one is to look at it realistically, inflation has been rising at only about 4.5 per cent in the last six months."

"Secondly, inflation has been in commodities and food which affect the poor, but they are not under the control of the Finance Minister in a short-term sense. They are under the control of the economy in a long-run sense. Last year, 2006, also happened to be the time period when worldwide prices of wheat and rice went up. So, the government couldn't possibly say it will produce more this year," he points out.

CPI-M Prasenjit Bose refuses to agree. "The argument that high growth necessarily lead to high inflation is theoretically as well as empirically an untenable argument. China, for instance, has far higher growth rate and below two per cent inflation."