The Indian budget - how much of a big bang could it be?

In the BRICS emerging markets, India’s economic performance could be much better if not enough to fuel - in whatever measure it could be - the world economy. Brazil is having serious problems. Russia - partly because of the drastic oil and gas price reduction coupled with the sanctions from the West - is surely experiencing challenging circumstances. China - that great supplier for the entire world - is experiencing substantial slow down after 35 years of non stoppable growth. South Africa is facing its own problems which are getting more and more acute.
India, since the advent of the Modi government, is full of hope, expectation and confidence. Petrodollar shaikhs have presented India with a special bonus cheque of $50 billion in halving the price of their supplies. For a country which imports 80% of its energy, this is not a small gift. In the last nine months the Indian Stock Market is booming, the country's GDP has grown steadily (partly due to some different calculations), inflation has been reduced drastically and the National Exchequer Deficit has also come down surprisingly. Narendra Modi, the magician won bumper votes at the elections. Arun Jaitley is equally capable to surprise people in and out of India with a more appropriate steps to take India on the growth path of over 7-8% a year for the foreseeable future.
The very well respected Deepak Parekh, Chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation expressed his concern last week that the Modi government performance has not reciprocated to the public’s expectation. Arun Jaitley then replied in a very sensible and honest manner that it was not easy to move around such a huge ship especially in the turbulent waters of the world we live in.
Well respected media in the West, especially The Economist, Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal have recommended umpteen number of steps to Modi and his government to help lift India’s growth rate. Whilst that is indeed their duty, they are not only looking at India through a different prism but also from a very long distance geographically.
India is not China. Indian democracy is vibrant. The Modi government has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) but the opposition controlled Rajya Sabha (Upper House) which is not likely to play ball in a favourable way. Then there are problems of land acquisitions. The act in force was framed by the Raj administration some 150 years ago. The only thing that does not grow or enlarge is land. With India's population having increased by 800 percent in the intervening period, the demand of the agriculturalist and that of industry are very difficult to bridge for the betterment of India. Also the advice of the country's Western media friends on its labour laws as well as India's regional and international responsibility - in terms of strengthening its defence forces - has also to be seen from the availability of resources and the many fold demand on the national pot.
It takes 9 months for a baby to be born. Let us hope for a bouncy baby this year!
Some corruptions
Those of us who live in Britain are very fortunate indeed - at least as far as the poison of corrupt practices is concerned. Hardly a news bulletin or serious column refrains from mentioning corruption in third world countries. Of course they will not normally focus on the friendly nations whether in the Middle East or elsewhere. But by and large Great Britain has succeeded in eliminating many corrupt practices in this country.
The problem is not caused by the common man on the London omnibus but it is with our politicians and the big banks who were supposed to be honourable and upright. We have now learnt enough about how the bankers behave.
Lets accept to a certain extent some aberration from the banks as they have to satisfy the rising demand of the shareholders, let alone the top bosses greed for bigger bonuses.
But people fail to understand the greed of the politicians. In the last few years how many exposures have we watched in which MPs fiddle? We now know about two former senior politicians - one from the Conservative party and the other from Labour - who appear to have offered to participate in scandalous and corrupt practices. Thank goodness both have been suspended by their parties immediately!
The former Prime Minister Tony Blair should have set a more exemplary precedent by not going for that personal portfolio of some £20 million or more. How much more money do the Blairs need to live like Lords? Tony Blair's personal greed has completely overwhelmed his own needs. Such behaviour is surely not expected from those who were voted into power and were given so much respect and adoration.