FROM THE TELEGRAPH OF 28 AUGUST 2005
A substantial molehill
The finance minister had announced in his budget the
introduction of a new process of monitoring government performance. Besides the
traditional scrutiny of money already spent, there would be a report on
expenditure before it was spent: each department would state every quarter what
it had achieved with the its allocation, and what it aimed to achieve. The
Prime Minister wrote to ministries in support and asked the Deputy Chairman of
the Planning Commission to assist.
Mr Chidambaram can take credit
that he was able to present the outcome budget for the first quarter before the
second was over. But he did not look exactly proud of his new creation. He did
not give any substantial statement to Parliament or the media. It was almost as
if he wanted the budget to be quickly forgotten.
The reasons are not far to seek.
For the ministries’ idea of “deliverables” turns out to be different from the
common man’s. Thus, the aviation ministry counts amongst its deliverables both
planes yet to be bought and the loan instalments on past purchases. The
department of telecommunications reckons amongst its deliverables the
telephones that BSNL and MTNL, theoretically independent companies, were
supposed to instal. The ministry of culture plans soon to ask state governments
about their Republic Day floats. Even after defining deliverables as they like,
most ministries do not know what they have delivered. They have a better idea
of why they will not be able to deliver. For instance, the ministry of archaeology
knows that its delivery will fall short because of unhelpful contractors. And
finally, many departments are just bluffing. For instance, the AYUSH
department, which promotes indigenous medicine, has precise targets for the
number of clinics to be established, the number of medical kits to be
distributed, etc. But it has no idea how many it has given out, so it talks
instead about research being a continuing process and the government helping
reputable institutions.
The outcome budget covers only
plan expenditure. The Planning Commission brings out a Plan Midterm Review just
as the full term is about to end; the finance ministry has brought out a
quarterly review of plan expenditure just as the next quarter is to end.
As the finance minister said,
first steps are needed to commence any journey. But he also said that the
journey was a long one. The Plans and the Midterm Reviews continue in their
original verbose and ineffectual incarnation half a century after they
commenced their journey. It is to be hoped that the outcome budget’s journey
will be somewhat more brisk. With the Prime Minister’s authority behind him, Mr
Chidambaram must ensure that ministries begin to deliver something more solid
soon.
