TIOL-DDT 188 · the untouched capture
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<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b><font color="#663399" size="3">TIOL-DDT
188</font><br>
26 08 2005<br>
Friday</b></font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<b>A politician, before he can become a statesman, has to remain in office
long enough</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> A reputed economist
Finance Minister, the Author of liberalisation and opening up of the economy,
under a Chanakaya of a Prime Minister, with a free hand, simply lifted the
economy out of shambles and put it on the move about 15 years ago. And that
economist is today the Prime Minister. Given a chance, he would like to vigorously
pursue his economic strategy, but today his government is dependent on the
communists for its very survival and their economic theories are not exactly
identical to his. Will this economist turned politician to remain in office
long enough to become the Statesman, we can all be proud of? <br>
<br>
While you must have read all about the PM's interview to McKinsey Quarterly,
<b>DDT</b> brings you some quotable quotes from the PM in the interview.<br>
<br>
• The first and foremost priority is to finish the unfinished task which
the founding fathers of our republic set out for us at the time of our independence:
to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance, and disease, which have afflicted
millions and millions of our people.<br>
<br>
• <b>We are a coalition government, and that limits our options in some
ways. Privatization happens to be one such area. </b><br>
<br>
• But I must confess to you that in the prevailing milieu, the thinking
in our coalition is that for enterprises that are doing well under competitive
conditions, we must have special justification to prove to our coalition colleagues
that there is need for privatization : <br>
<br>
• When we talk about labour reforms, we are essentially talking about
10 percent of our labour force, which is accounted for in the so-called organized
sector. Outside this 10 percent, for the 90 percent we are a completely flexible
labour market <br>
<br>
• <b>We don't have a broad-based consensus in our coalition for me to
assert that I can move forward in a big way </b><br>
<br>
• It is my task to carry conviction to our Left colleagues in Delhi.
I haven't given up, and I am confident that when all things are considered
I think the reform will have more broad-based support <br>
<br>
• Our coalition today represents nearly 70 percent of the Indian electorate,
so we may be slow moving, but if we build a consensus, that will be far more
durable than any other mechanism that I know of. <br>
<br>
• Our role is to convince their national leadership that what is good
for West Bengal can also be good for the rest of the country. I haven't given
up hope <br>
<br>
• <b>I have full confidence in the patriotism of our Left colleagues
to believe that in the final analysis of what is good for India, they will
also be on board. </b><br>
<br>
• I feel we have to do a lot more on manufacturing because, ultimately,
services respond to what's happening in the production sector. <br>
<br>
• I've talked to a large number of producers—people from Hindustan
Lever and others—and they've been telling me what India needs most is
a unified food law. We have just now prepared the bill, and it will be introduced
in parliament. <br>
<br>
• With regard to education, I think at the top we have an excellent
superstructure. The IIMs and IITs, the regional engineering colleges, they
have served us well. I believe <b>empowering our people means empowering by
investing more in their education and health.</b><br>
<br>
• one must understand that economic policy and decision making do not
function in a political vacuum <br>
<br>
• If I have any message, it is that it is our ambition to integrate
our country into the evolving global economy. <br>
<br>
• Fifteen years ago, a Congress government launched this economic-liberalization
program, integrating India into the world economy. Since then, three governments
have come and gone, but the direction of economic policy has been, year after
year, toward more liberalization <br>
<br>
• <b>India's future lies in being an open society, an open polity, a
functioning democracy respecting all fundamental human freedoms, accepting
the rule of law and, at the same time, to emerge as a successful, internationally
competitive market economy. </b></font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<b>Outcome Budget - outlays do not necessarily mean outcomes</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">• I must
caution that outlays do not necessarily mean outcomes. <br>
<br>
• The people of the country are concerned with outcomes. <br>
<br>
• The prime minister has repeatedly emphasised the need to improve the
quality of implementation and enhance the efficiency and accountability of
the delivery mechanism<br>
<br>
• During the course of the year, together with the Planning Commission,
we shall put in place a mechanism to measure the development outcomes of all
major programmes. <br>
<br>
• We shall also ensure that programmes and schemes are not allowed to
continue indefinitely from one Plan period to the next without an independent
and in-depth evaluation.<br>
<br>
• The civil society should also engage the government in a healthy debate
on the efficiency of the delivery mechanism.<br>
<br>
• At the end of the year, we should <b>ask not how much has been spent,
but what has been achieved</b>.<br>
<br>
These are extracts from the FM’s Budget speech and this is what the
outcome budget is all about. <br>
<br>
By May 2006, we will have the first quantifiable indication on just how the
government is spending its money.<br>
<br>
Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s outcome budget as of now covers only
plan expenditure and which in due course will cover even non plan expenditure.
<br>
<br>
The document lists clearly-defined deliverables for each scheme/programme,
its budgetary outlay, processes and timelines, as well as risk factors in
meeting the target. The HRD ministry was most honest when it reported that
the usefulness of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Schools cannot be judged –
by results alone. <br>
<br>
61 ministries/departments have listed their schemes and programmes in a detailed
document running into <b>723 pages</b>. The intention is that the "Outcome
Budget is expected to reflect the Annual Budget in terms of intended outcome"
Mr. Chidambaram informed the Parliament. In fact, it will now become an integral
part of the budgetary process with actual outcomes for scheme-wise expenditure
being announced in May each year.<br>
<br>
The FM later told reporters that the outcome budget is a "pre-expenditure
instrument" where ministries would look at spending through the prism
of outcomes. And that some state governments would also start such a process.<br>
<br>
The present Outcome Budget does not include expenditures of nine ministries,
such as Defence, External Affairs, Department of Atomic Energy and Parliamentary
Affairs.<br>
<br>
The Outcome Budget is a step to “Strengthen the citizen's right to information”
<br>
<br>
While in the next Outcome Budget we will know if the targets are met, the
FM did not tell the country as to what he is going to do if they are not.
<br>
<br>
The FM was candid in stating that “this is not a perfect document"
and "things will get better". Hope they do. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Noah's
Ark - Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark</b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> 1. Don't miss
the boat.<br>
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.<br>
3. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.<br>
4. Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something
really big.<br>
5. Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
<br>
6. Build your future on high ground. <br>
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.<br>
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
<br>
9. When you're stressed, float awhile <br>
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
<br>
<b>11. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow
waiting. <br>
</b><br>
(sent in by a netizen)<br>
<br>
<br>
<font color="#FF6666"><b>Until Monday with more DDT<br>
<br>
Have a nice weekend. <br>
<br>
Mail your comments to</b></font> <a href="vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com</a></font>
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