Orissa left to destiny –But West Bengal reaps maximum benefit from budget
By Bhabani Mohanty
I am neither an economic expert nor an political analyst. I don’t need any political mileage by writing for or against the budget. After Budget speech of Pranabda; sensex showed reasonable growth. Analysts are showering praise for a futuristic budget. Fantastic budget; Mr Mukherjee….
Mukherjee and Banerjee duo are true patriots. West Bengal has reaped maximum benefit out of both the budgets. Elections or no elections; if as a state you have influential ministers in cabinets, it’s a winner to begin with.
Budget is fine. What is the impact of the budget on people of my state? Very minimal. How many people we have in Orissa; who have gross income of INR 8 lakhs? What is the allocation for a state like Orissa; which is hit by natural calamity every now and then? In the eastern part of the country all the states have got some kind of allocated fund for their development whether it’s north east states or West Bengal? What about Orissa?
We are left to destiny. Divide between the states in terms of economic power is bound to grow; Which in turn will give rise to wide spread dissatisfaction and subsequently large scale anger. Who is going to be responsible for this? Fight between states pertaining to all kind of resources (Water, minerals etc) are going to intensify. We have already seen caste language and religion related division. Another battle between different regions is staring at us in near future.
It is probably a battle between numbers. States which contributes maximum no of parliamentarian will get maximum benefit. Our 21 numbers are probably too less to make an impact with policy makers. I may be wrong somewhere in my assessment. Is it a quality issue? Do we have leaders in parliament; who are good enough to represent issues of the state. Probably, answer is an emphatic no.
Why only to blame central government only? Our MPs are not able to spend allocated fund. Funds allocated under different schemes centrally are not utilized. Hence; returned to center. As a common man; what can I do? Yes…we can. We have to create deafening noise so that central government can here us only; nobody else.
Destiny’s child is not going to be left with it’s destiny to fight a lonely battle. The day will come; when one among us would become prime minister of the country and shape the policy. The day will come; when number of MPs are going to be only incidental. It will only be possible; when u, me aur hum would make it happen.