Consider the pet theme of the year: agriculture. After reading the Economic Survey, one would have assumed the problems in this sector are only too well known to policymakers. Consider the approach proposed in the budget for the agricultural sector. The farmer will acquire credit cards applying to banks, now reaching out to him. He will then await the high yielding seeds that the Indian Institute of Pulses Research will produce, since the government grant would have funded the research. He will then take subsidies from Nabard for rainwater harvesting. He will also attend the water harvesting training programme which has now attracted a huge talent pool of 3,200 new trainers. The new T&V team will additionally help him with the crop. Of course, the fertiliser subsidy is another help. We can expect then, that agricultural production will soar, and the farmer will finally get ‘included’ in the GDP growth mela, well in time for the next elections. Suppose for some reason the entire effort fails, there is insurance, funded by the government. As for the investment, we all can buy the new tax-free Nabard bonds, which won’t just fund the subsidies but also revive the RRBs to health. If that is not adequate, NRIs will buy the RRB deposits. As for the private sector’s participation in agriculture, we must learn not to read too much into the tiny boxes in economic surveys.

Another big bang that failed was infrastructure. We have to admit the Economic Survey itself did not create too many expectations here. The FM speaks broadly about awarding power projects, and focuses on plan allocations to power and coal, as if he is constrained to only indicate what he and his government can do with the money they have on hand. As for the celebrated private-public participation in infrastructure, a revolving fund of Rs 100 crore for project preparation must be a cruel joke, to people who are wondering how we will find the Rs 14 lakh crore envisaged in the 11th Plan for infrastructure. Some of us thought that growth in saving and investment rate will mean more long term investment opportunities, but PFRDA and pension funds have to wait. As for mutual funds, the government has been keenly experimenting over the last 7 years, about how to tax the dividends. In the meanwhile, some money we have stashed away as reserves will be used, provided RBI is comfortable with what this does to its currency and liquidity management programmes.

We have to blame all of this on our unrealistic expectations. We repeatedly told the government its job is to manage the deficits and provide for education, defence and health. That is exactly what the budget has limited itself to. We cannot say the budget was a lost opportunity to further reforms, because we placed inflation ahead in the agenda and forced some custom and excise duty cuts. We also cannot wring our hands in despair about the additional cess, and extending the FBT list, because there has to be some tinkering anyway. We can of course say, alas!