@Arunjaitley @Narendramodi – Budget 2014 – The message is, there is some thing in this budget for every one – by Shantonu Sen

The  message  to   the  people of India  after the budget   is    novel –  tighten your belts and spend more. The   Modi Sarkar  has struck out on a path   that is new and fresh. Save more and spend less, the general refrain, ts  for the weak , the fearful and those without ambition. We are now  demanding as a nation  says the Finance Minister.. We have aspirations and Narender Modi has propelled himself to the Prime Ministership of this country by lending his ear to this vibrant pulse . There will be no  tightening . There will be more AIMS, many more Medical Colleges including Dental colleges , five more  IIMs giving huge fillip to education. Money  for   Women’ security  and modernization of police  will be found . FDI in defense industries  and  in the Insurance sector will reach 49%. There will be 100 smart cities  . Mobiles T. V beer, areated drinks, oil, footwear laptops will be cheaper. Home loans will be attractive as a substantial portion of the interest  on that loan will count towards  reduction of tax on income.Saving has been encouraged by exempting one lac fifty thousand from income tax if its saved in the manner provided in 80c  of The Indian Income Tax Act as against the present limit of rupees one lac only. Simutaneously, spending is encouraged through home building loans  made worth ones while. The machismo in each tax  payer has been tickled quite audaciously. The steep hike, the steepest in living memory ,  in excise duties  on cigarettes cigars gutka and other tobacco products  will make the individual giving them up feel enormous, admiring his own sacrifice and the person who will still continue with these products  will  also feel similarly as he will be enormously defiant.  The message is, there is some thing in this budget for every one, every age , every gender, every occupation every business, from every salaried class to every enterpreneur.

The blues  in the budget. There is not a word on the judiciary. Development , growth with out confronting crime civil and penal will stall. The Law Commission’s last report  by Chief Justice ( Retd) A P Shah is a virtual obituary of the judicial sysstem. The present Chief Justice of India  has thrown up his hands in helplessness  seeing the  mounting  arrears in all our courts. His plea that courts remain open more days of the year has received thumbs down from the legal fraternity. The complete silence on judiciary in the budget is a matter of serious concern. Social media, the twitterati , the NG O class and their likes each pulling at different areas where India has to reach out need to be marshalled into a cogent force without in any way inhibiting ther freedom. This  Budget ignores this class. A great opportunity to unify this category to deliver for India without being the battering ram or irresponsible  has been lost. The  Budget 2014 is a budget of hope and a budget of ideas and to succeed these ideas and hopes should at the end of the financial year emerge in concrete terms. Its this  glitterati of today that could  keep a hawks eye on the babus who have to give worth while shape to the hopes and ideas in the Budget.

A  new mantra for the bureaucracy  has to be coined to achieve the fuifilment  that this Buget seeks. Multitasking the work force and stretch the penny provided in the budget to its furtherest point. This was attempted in Delhi Police .  Police Control Room Vehicles patrol Delhi with sirens blaring 24/7 and yet the lay public had no access to it. They were conveniently parked, suitably manned in all parts of the city, the most visible face of Delhi Police after the traffic constable and yet were hands off to the public whose safety they were supposed to ensure. They moved to a scene of crime not at the bidding ot the affected nearby but only when the Police Control Room Police Head quarter gave them the wireless flash to do so.  After 2007 they were multi tasked. They  were tasked to note and respond to complaints from victims in their zone and they did so after informing their controller . THey were also tasked to act suo moto if they saw a crime or attempted crime and help a distressed lady to reach to safety . Similarly, the traffic constable was tasked to respond as a police man in the police station will do if he witnesses an attempted crime or a crime while on traffic duty. Finally, a roster count was made of police men on static duty with senior officers and they were on days of heavy police bandobast tasked  with  duties. Apart from  stretching the penny  it gave some meaning to the routine humdrum life of these  policemen. Acting on a initiative stemming from inside boosts ones  morale  as  against just carrying out orders.

Another step that was taken was to involve the people of Delhi in actively performing police duties. The Eyes and Ear scheme brought information on crime as well as security  from diverse spectrums of society. From vendors, autorikshaw drivers, bus drivers, shop keepers,  private security guards, to house wives and daily commuters to office and business prermises information, valuable for policing trickled in in substantial numbers. Lanlords and  employers were gently arm twisted to suo moto to get their tenants and servants verified. Incidentally, a few days ago this proactive step received judicial approbation and a recalcitrant lanlord is now cooling his heels in jail . Sexual predators on call centre women returning from duty in the wee hours were  blocked  by    directing , citing a preventive law,  call centre chief executives to provide them security till they entered the safety of their homes  . This  crime has stopped in Delhi from 2010. Delhi needs a minimum of 6000 beats to prevent  maximum  crime on the streets.  A minimum beat is of two persons and together , they, continously, walk their beat gathering knowledge and information and protect the citizen. In 2007 there were 700 beats. By  multitasking  the police and other means ,  man power was  created to increase the beats  to 2100 by 2013.  Its still woefully inadequate. The scope to stretch the penny further has to be continously explored

Yet another exercise done in Delhi Police  ( 2007 to 2013) is some thing close to our Prime Minister’s heart.  Work that serves no purpose was stopped.   In Delhi one  such excercise , ordered in 2009 , has also received  the apex court’s nod  in July  2014.   All arrests in dowry related cases  was barred. This was prohibited by an administrative order of the Commissioner pf Police .  Investigation with out arrest is the norm in the Central Bureau of Investigation and this norm was applied here.  Arrest, bail hearings requires man power in considerable numbers.  It  is  also a humane order considering many cases of false allegations have erupted all over the country  under  the current  anti dowry laws.Many similar steps  need to be taken in the Police Departments of the country.

Digging deep into the human   potential   in  the Government and  stretching the penny to its furthermost point must be the aim .  Departments on their own can be encouraged to tighten belts, multitask , adopt sane and persuasive  methods  to involve the the lay public in their duties wherever and whenever its possible and shed work that serve little purpose. Let the Budget  2014 as it is finally adopted  be an  address to  encourage a flood  of ideas that will stretch each penny that will be spent as well as  stamp out misuse of the penny. How can a Chief Minister install 31 air conditioners etc in a four bed roomed house under our budget regulations  and no body called to account when  these facilities were being put in place!