The economic survey for the financial year 2009-2010 has been tabled in the parliament. This kind of survey is the commentary prepared by the government which indicates the achievement of the government in last one year. So naturally there is conscious effort on part of the government to conceal its failures.

Till date the government was beating its own drum and boasted that, in spite of the global financial crisis Indian economy holds a strong and sound position. Now they have taken the opposite turn and the sound of the drum is melted at the level where the same UPA government is giving the excuse of financial recession. The text of the survey has commenced with the confession that due to the global financial recession nothing could be done. It is estimated that the growth of Gross National Production will be 7.2%.But the whole survey is silent of the fact that how much the poor people of the country will benefit from this growth.

The Central government has completely failed in agriculture, food production etc-their efforts to hide the reality form the people have also failed drastically and the real skeleton of the economy has come out in the survey. The expected kharief food grain production in the year 2009-10 was 125.15 lakhs ton It has only touched 98.30 lakh. Compared to last year and food production is expected to be short by 16 per cent. Drought has been identified as one of the reasons for such decline. The public investment in agriculture in real terms has witnessed a steady decline. The rise in the year 2009-2010 is negative – 0.2%.Though the base of such calculation has not been revealed in the survey. The real picture is more dangerous. The calculation was made after assuming that the production of Fruits, Vegetables, egg, meat etc will be similar to the last year. If the assumption fails then the percentage will be – 2/3%. In the country like ours where 55% of the labor power depends on agriculture, the negative production rate has created a grave situation which we can easily understand from our daily experiences.

The parliament as well as the whole country is churned on the issue of  price rise of  food products. The economic survey states that the retail price of the food product had increased by 20% or more than that. Let’s mention the price of sugar. In the year 2008-2009 the total production of sugarcane has declined 21% compared to last year. But the production of the sugar has declined almost 44%. How is it possible? The answer is simple. The sugar producers have not disclosed the quantity of the total production. Now the market is burning. The producers are selling the sugar stocked by them at higher prices and making crores of rupees as  profit. Secondly they have sold 10% of the total sugar produced to the wine industry. The Government has played its role as silent spectator. The ministers have engaged themselves in delivering attractive speeches for the benefits of the ‘Aam Admi’

The stocking of the food grains is essential for contingency. Another calculation is available. In the month of January the need was 200 lakhs ton. The total stock is 474 lakhs ton. The availability of rest of the product in the market may cause the reduction in food price. But our pro am admi central government will never do that!

Instead of strengthening the rationing system the economic survey has opined for a new formula . That is the price will be determined not like the ration shops but by the open market. The people who are eligible to get the help will get the coupons; by showing them they will get the product in lesser price. Moreover the policy of the government will be compelling the poor people of the country to commit suicides. This formula is also applicable in case of fertilizers. By exhibiting the coupons they will get the fertilizers in lesser price from the open market. The subsidy on the fertilizers will be reduced or else withdrawn.

The bad condition of the public exchequer can be understood from the picture of the tax collection. In 2008-2009 April to December the amount of the collected tax was Rupees 4, 26,796 Crores.  At the same time in 2009-2010 the amount has declined in Rupees 4, 16,094 Crores. The amount of decline is almost Rupees 10,000 Crores. The ratio between the tax and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has started to decline. In the first year of the UPA Government the ratio was 9.4%. In the year 2007-08 the ratio was highest that was 12% and now that has become 10.4%.  In reality the corporate houses are enjoying the large amount of tax reduction but the government is using this excuse to withdraw its role from the social welfare sectors. The trend of the government’s action has been reflected in the survey.  Out of 182 countries of the world the India has achieved 134th Position in the World Human Development Reoprt. The adult literacy rate in India is 66% where in China the rate is 93% and in Russia it is 99%.

The government has gone far away from their promise that they will allocate 6% of  GDP for  education sector –till now the expenditure is 3.01%.  In public health the promise was to spend 2-3% but till the date the expenditure is only 1.37%.  On the question of the number of people under Below poverty line different opinions are there but the governments report itself mentions that 27% of the total population of India falls in this category. These information are cropped from the economic survey. So where have all the speeches gone? What are the realities behind the mouthful promises?

The economic survey has failed to find any  solution for the massive problem of ever increasing unemployment. Since long, the number of  employment in the organized sectors are continuously declining. In the year 1983-93 the rate of  growth in employment was (includes the private and public sectors) annually 1.20%.  In 1994-2007 it was negative. Annually 0.03%. The central government has done nothing to solve the problem of unemployment.  Many people have lost their jobs. According to the government’s statistics in the month of july-september 2009  4.97laks people have lost their jobs.

The picture is little better in the industrial sector. Some help has come .In manufacturing sector the growth rate has touched 8.9% and in construction industry the growth has increased to 6.5% The Budget has once again allotted  money for the downtrodden, especially the ST,SC and minorities. The allocation has been increased in declared projects for them. Some new projects have been declared. But the entire survey is silent about the review of the earlier declared works. Some places it has become clear that there is no effort to take initiatives to spend the money. In some other cases the Central government has made the state government liable for non implementation.

There cannot be a better phrase to coin this economic survey than saying it as a document of overall failure. In spite of making the best uses of cosmetics the government has failed in concealing its real face

FOR MORE READING. .

SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC SURVEY 2009-10

ECONOMIC SURVEY 2009-10 HIGHLIGHTS

OUTLOOK FOR INDIA’S TRADE SECTOR IN 2010 HAS BRIGHTENED

UNION BUDGET 2010-11 : PRO-RICH AND ANTI-PEOPLE

RATIONALE FOR PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

THE BUDGET AND THE INDIAN ECONOMY – Ashok Handoo

UNION BUDGET 2010-11: ACTIONS FALL SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS

EFFECT OF ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN ON EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA : THE OFFICIAL ESTIMATES.