The Chief Minister has presented a 1090 crore deficit budget. We are unsure how the deficit will be made up except that the prices of some essential commodities have been hiked. That the price of petrol which was brought down successively by the central government will now be hiked is not going to endear Mukul Sangma and his government to the public. Contrary to what many believe, petrol is not a commodity consumed only by the middle and upper middle class but by transport operators who will now milk the common man who is dependent on public transport. Besides, today having a car is not a luxury but an imperative hence the government seems to have targeted the wrong income groups here. Liquor and cigarettes have usually been soft targets but this time the latter has been exempted. So the budget is soft on smokers.
On allocations, the State Budget seems to have taken a cue from the recently passed central government budget which is focusing on the agrarian sector and the rural economy. Community and Rural Development is allocated Rs 811.95 crore. This is the highest allocation by far and it is a step in the right direction considering the plight of rural Meghalaya. But the lacuna lies in project implementation which is tardy and lacks accountability. Large parts of rural Meghalaya are still unreached and do not have the basic amenities, leave alone schools and health centres. Families are unusually large with some women giving birth to as many as twelve to sixteen children. Family planning has not made any impact on our rural mindscape. The burgeoning rural population cancels out all attempts at providing resources. The population will always outdo the resources available. Surveys have repeatedly shown that women in the child bearing age in Meghalaya suffer severe malnutrition and/or anemia. Children born to such mothers are also malnourished, thereby leading to cognitive defects. We are therefore seeing a large chunk of our children population who will grow up without the ability to learn and reason like others of their age. This frightening scenario somehow does not seem to figure in the agenda of our elected representatives.
The announcement that the MLA scheme would now be hiked to Rs 2 crore per MLA is a no brainer. This scheme is a self serving scheme meant to help the MLA, not the public. Much of this money is spent before the elections. It should have been abolished instead of being enhanced. But whoever said the political class serves a public cause?