Budget Blues

As in the previous year, a lot of expectations are building in the air about the forthcoming Budget. The Finance Minister is meeting various pressure groups such as representatives of trade and industry, economists, farmers, trade unionists etc. It has become a ritual every year. I really do not know how far this exercise will help the Finance Minister and his team to crystallize the Budget proposal. However, such an interaction will help all pressure groups feel satisfied since they can tell their constituency that they had succeeded in putting across their views. On their part the Finance Ministry can legitimately take the umbrage under these consultations that they heard all shades of public opinion before finalizing the Budget proposal.

I am not against wider consultations. It should be done in a democratic set up. But the point is whether we are consulting all the parties involved. I feel there is a need to widen the horizon of consultations. For instance, I do not know whether the technocrats in the country are consulted before framing budget proposals. What about the educationists and scientific community? Of course, I know that once you widen the circle of consultations, it will become an endless process. But there is a definite purpose for my suggesting them to be consulted.

I sincerely believe that the secrecy that shrouded the budget exercise has become a thing of the past. The common man and corporates are not looking at the Budget as a mere exercise to project the revenue and expenditure of the Government and consequently to see how they are benefited or adversely affected by way of reduction of taxes or introduction of new taxes or enhancing the rates. Sooner or later, the common man will demand from the Government what it has done for enhancing the quality of life of the people, what it has done to enrich the research and educational institutions, what it has done to promote fundamental research and so on. A tax concession or an imposition of a levy here or there is not going to enthrall or agitate them. People would look forward to long-term benefits, things that can change their life styles, their quality of life.

I feel very strongly that many changes have taken place in the economic landscape of the country. It is instructive how these changes have taken place. Computer revolution in the country initiated by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, though resisted by the trade unions initially for loss of employment, has turned to be an employment creator. Technologies like mobile phones, broad bands biotechnology has brought out a revolution in how the businesses are transacted and swiftness of communication links. Breakthroughs in biotechnology, nuclear medicine, stem cells etc have redefined the treatment techniques. But how many such technologies has India developed? The research and development even now remains an exclusive realm of the western world. They invent, patent, market the technologies and rake in billions of dollars while exercising their patent rights. I can tell without much hesitation that it is going to be the same fate for research in nano technology, stem cell research, super conductivity etc. The West is still dominating and they will continue to dominate. India would continue to be a technology follower unless we strengthen our research and development (R&D) infrastructure.

China has realized this. In recent years, the State investment in the fundamental research has gone up several folds. Now more number of patents are filed, even though technology plagiarism is still a menace in that country. But in India, we are still to give the right priority to the fundamental research. The latest figures indicate that our expenditure on R&D is not even one per cent of the GDP. An occasional article in a newspaper column or a talk will not help us in prioritizing this segment. It should be a mission of all political parties and development oriented people to focus on R&D. It will not pay off in the immediate or medium term. It is a long drawn out process. We have to develop strings of such institutions at all levels, which instill scientific temper and an enabling situation for our bright boys and girls to do research rather than chasing an IT job in an alien world. We have to retain them in India and to their research laboratories. They should derive creative excellence. That requires liberal allocations in the Budget. Politicians, industrialists or trade unions may be aware of these imperatives. But that is not their primary concern. It is the scientific community, who should alert the Government on these issues. How can they do that if they are not properly heard and their suggestions implemented?

I sincerely believe that our future growth is technology driven and definitely not on borrowed technology. I also believe that it is the time for leap-frogging to that horizon, when we have two highly acclaimed persons as our President and the Prime Minister.