After the horrendous moves, demonetization, and GST, India’s economy has seen one of its worst phases. Due to these moves, 2019 became one of the unforgettable years for India’s economy as it faced its worst slowdown. Recent GDP figures have only aggravated the concerns.
The amount of fiscal deficit has an account of 1.5 trillion which is quite high. Various steps have been taken to overcome this deficit amount including Privatization, reduction in corporate tax and much more. But in the shade of overcoming the fiscal deficit, extravagance is also going on full mode. Here are a few moves that led to huge expenses but were not necessary to be taken not at least at the time of the economic crisis.
Chandrayan 2
Rs 978 crore (approximately US$141 million) was the total cost of mission Chandryan 2 which includes Rs 603 crore for space segment and Rs 375 crore as launch costs on GSLV Mk III. Although this mission was almost successful and helped India is gaining popularity across the world but was this necessary at the time of economic slowdown? Spending Rs 978 crores on a spacecraft is just alike black hole in the economy. It only added numbers to the fiscal deficit amount.
Gaganyaan
India’s dream to launch first manned spaceflight got a green signal from Cabinet in December 2019. A huge amount of Rs 10,000 crores has been approved and the project will take 40 months to get completed. Is Gaganyaan a dream of people who have been knocked down by dirty politics or of the Modi government to create history?
Chandrayaan 3
After Chandrayan-2, another attempt by ISRO is approved by the government and will launch by 2020. It will cost around 6.15 billion rupees or about $91.2 million at current exchange rates. Seems the government is collecting huge amounts for ISRO in the name of compensating the fiscal deficit.
Statue of unity
The world’s tallest statue, Statue of Unity inaugurated by PM Modi in 2018 in Gujarat costs Rs 2,989 crore. Instead of spending this hefty amount on an unwanted statue, the government should have spent the money on installing smoke towers, which would have been a great help in cleaning the air for citizens of India.
Publicity expense
Modi government is known to publicize its so-called great works and for this, the amount to spend has no limit. Already Rs 4300 crores have been spent in almost four years and the number is still increasing.
If Modi would have spent this amount in stabling the financial condition of India, the fiscal amount would have been lesser and the Modi government would not have to face so much criticism from the people of Indian and the opposition.
Extending the line of credit and funds to combat terrorism
Last year, Modi extended a $400 million line of credit and an additional $50 million to help combat terrorism, $ 100 million for solar projects in Sri Lanka. Instead of raising financial help to other countries, the government should concentrate on improving the financial health of our country.
Foreign trips by our honorable prime minister
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for his world trips and the cost incurred in the arrangement of these trips is worth knowing. An amount of Rs 2012 crores has been spent on PM’s foreign trips between 2014-2018.
Announcing the infrastructure plan
In the last six years, there has been an investment of around Rs 50 lakh crore in infrastructure and now a new turn. On the last day of 2019, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveils a 102 lakh crore national infrastructure based on our PM’s vision to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
Conclusion
The above moves may be beneficial for the country in one way or another but the question is where is the money coming from when the country is facing severe fiscal deficit? And from where will this RS 102 lakh crore come? Will they use the money that will come from privatizing more assets of the country or will increase the tax burden on the common man? Or maybe another fee hike for education is in the pipeline?
Whatever may be the reason, the fact is our government will not stop its extravagances and will continue to suck the blood of the common man to fulfill financial demands.