High interest payment, low social sector spending bog Gujarat budget for 2014-15: Pathey

While the Gujarat government has been claiming that its public debt – which is slated to reach Rs 1.69 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year (2014-15) from Rs 1.50 lakh crore in the fiscal 2013-14 – is “well within limits of its paying capacity”, an independent budget analysis institute has brought to focus a disturbing fact: While the principal amount for paying debt has been going down over the years, the total amount payable as interest against the debt taken by the Gujarat government is showing a progressive upward trend. At the same time, the budget analysis suggests, interest as percentage of revenue expenditure of Gujarat is one of the highest in the country, and the state government is increasingly finding it difficult to spend amount allocated for the social sector.

In the financial year, 2012-13, the Gujarat government had to pay Rs 6,536.52 crore as principal amount, and the interest paid by it that year was Rs 12,160.65 crore. In 2013-14 the principal amount went down to Rs 6203.07 crore, but interest went up to 13,407.31 crore. In the current financial year, 2014-15, the principal amount is estimated to further go down to Rs 5,511.97 crore, while the interest payable is likely to reach an all-time high of Rs 15,134.41 crore. All this happened, sources added, despite efforts by the Gujarat government to “negotiate” interest rates with different banks from which it took loans in order to bring down the rate of interest.

What is particularly astounding, according the Pathey analysis, is that while the total public debt of the Gujarat government has been going up every year, reaching Rs 24,897.85 crore in 2014-15, from Rs 19,989.50 crore in 2014-15, it would have to spend a huge amount – Rs 20646.38 crore – to service the debt -- principal amount plus interest. It would mean, in the year 2014-15, just about Rs 4,251.47 crore would be available from the public debt it would take to fund the budget. The analysis has been carried out by Pathey, a non-profit organization based in Ahmedabad.
Revenue expenditure is supposed to the amount a government has to necessarily spend to maintain its day-to-day expenses, including payment against salaries to its employees, maintaining roads and other public works, and so on. Interest payable on debt is an important component of revenue expenditure. Quoting Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, Pathey says, Gujarat is one of the top states of India whose interest amount as percentage of revenue is very high. In 2013-14, the interest amount payable to service debts, Rs 13,407.31 crore, was 16.8 per cent of revenue expenditure, which was lower than only two states out of the 17 selected for analysis – West Bengal (21.2 per cent) and Punjab (17.1 per cent).

Huge claims were made recently that Gujarat budget in the post-Narendra Modi era “predominantly focused” on the social sector, which accounted for 39 per cent of the total plan allocation of Rs 71,330 crore. However, figures suggest something disturbing: In the financial year 2013-14, a whopping Rs 3,927.06 crore meant for the social sector remained unspent – this came to nearly 15.81 per cent of the developmental budgetary allocation for the social sector (Rs 24,831.34 crore). This was the highest percentage of amount remaining unspent over several years – 3.70 per cent in 2012-13, 4.27 per cent in 2011-12, 10.77 per cent in 2010-11, 5.37 per cent in 2009-10, and 7.25 per cent in 2008-09.

Comments

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

In lieu of tribute to Pritish Nandy, said to be instrumental in collapse of Reliance-controlled daily

It is widely reported that Pritish Nandy , journalist, author, animal activist, and politician, has passed away. While it is customary to pay tributes to a departing soul—and I, too, have joined those who have posted heartfelt condolences on social media—I cannot forget the way he treated me when he was editor of the Reliance-controlled Business and Political Observer (BPO), for which I had been working informally in Moscow.

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

Search This Blog