Socialism is only on the surface

The Kerala State Budget for financial yeaer 2024-25 Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal presented by giving the preamble of the Indian Constitution as the cover of the documents and singing the Vallathol poem 'Keralamenna peru kettalo thilakkanam chora njarambukalil'. With no big announcements or surprises, the budget highlights the state's financial woes and reiterates the fact that the government is running out of cash. In general, one cannot expect more in the budget of a state that has less tax and non-tax revenue and is facing economic sanctions from the central government.

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Apart from being an estimate of receivables and payables in a financial year, the budget is also an indicator of the state's way forward. As such, it is doubtful whether the budget figures presented by the finance minister bode well for the future. It is because of that pathetic situation that the finance minister is unable to show anything in the budget other than the veneer of a cash-strapped person in an attempt to hide his state from the people. Even though the administrators and their policies to date and to a large extent the central policies have played a role in creating such a situation, no imaginative steps have been taken to overcome it. It can be said that there is nothing visible in the budget to solve the indifference in tax collection which is pointed out by left-wing economists. The Amnesty scheme has been announced as a plan to collect tax arrears of around 14,000 crore rupees. This was announced before but failed due to a lack of diligent implementation.

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It is evident in the budget that the left-wing government, which constantly swears that it will try to create a people-friendly alternative against the crony capitalist policies of the central government to the neglect of the public sector and pampers the private sector, is changing its policy in various strategic areas in a way that favours the private sector. The government is ready to welcome private investment in the fields of education, industry, education and tourism including eco-tourism and inviting private universities and foreign universities. The budget even proposes to accept money from people for government hospitals. In short, the socialism is confined to only the cover of the budget document. There is a proposal for additional resource mobilisation of Rs 1067 crore. Needless to say, these will create difficulties for common people. There is also a new reform in the form of land tax on flats in the budget which also proposes to increase the price of liquor and the fair value of land. The fair value of land has been increasing in the last few years both in and out of the budget. As a result, the sale of land decreased dramatically. So it remains to be seen how effective this proposal will be. The decision to increase fees in courts and impose a duty on power producers will ultimately affect the common man.

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Efforts have been made to placate government employees with a new and long-awaited plan in place of the current contribution pension and with the announcement that one instalment of the outstanding six instalments of DA will be paid in April. The minister has also said that the state will not revert to the statutory pension scheme to replace the contributory pension which has been a nagging issue for a long time. The new proposal is yet to be clarified. The minister said that there is no increase in the welfare pension and only promised that dues will be paid promptly from next year. The budget also declares an increase in the support price of rubber by 10 rupees to Rs 180. And as it was the case with the union budget, in the state budget either, in the matter of Indian expatriates abroad who send back thousands of crores of income to the country, there is no change in the attitude of neglect towards them.

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Even as there is mention of financial crisis, there is nothing specific in the budget to cut spending. Expenditure in accordance with income is common economics. It is possible only when pomp, luxury, and extravagance are avoided. However, the finance minister has only made a flat denial of allegations dismissing them as not true. However, the government should be ready to take measures to avoid waste instead of saying that it does not exist - especially in a situation where there is no certainty that there will be an end to the central neglect.

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