As the BJP government presents the federal budget today in Parliament, one is reminded of the famous saying, "You can fool some people all the time but not all people all the time". It seems that this time there will be nothing new left to be presented during the upcoming Union Budget. Most of the things to be presented by the Finance Minister have gradually been placed even before the actual budget could see the light of the day (on 10 July). In fact, the entire stretch since the Government took power can be termed as a long, extended budget session – a session in slow motion.
All the major policy decisions, be it regarding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence sector, private investment in railways, reviving the sugar industry (raising export subsidy and reconsidering the ethanol blending program) had been on the anvil with the previous government.
A farsighted person can understand that, in this respect, the present Centre has just been following in the footsteps of the previous regime. What the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could not perform thanks to the presence of the socially conscious National Advisory Council (NAC), NDA might be able to achieve. It would be unfair to say that what is happening under the BJP Government is entirely new. Budget and policy making, even during the UPA regime and much before, had been happening outside of the formal parliamentary process. There have been certain instances whent the past government went over the opposition in the Parliament, to pass landmark ordinances. The media then had cried foul on the misuse of democratic system by the UPA.
