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New Delhi, Jan 26: Happy Republic Day to you all. Did you guys see the R-Day parade on TV, in person? It was spectacular, wasn’t it? The tableaux of 17 selected states were enchanting, weren’t they? The tune of the National Anthem and might of the Indian military were enough to fuel that fire in you and make you so, so proud of the incredible country called INDIA!
Happy? Proud? Yes, right? Let me tell you something more about this year’s Republic Day. Delhi’s tableau was made at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. The cost of some other floats from the 17 selected states and six Central government agencies reached up to approximately Rs 1 crore. Yes, you heard it right. Crores (a substantial amount) were spent for the Republic Day parade. Not to forget the cost of setting up the grounds, making arrangements at various posts, security etc.
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When the country is on the rocks since Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised the country’s two high value currency notes on November 8, 2016 annulling nearly 86 per cent of India’s currency in just a matter of few hours, the R-Day parade cost is something I cannot digest. Many of us working people faced issues due to demonetisation. For few starting days, many of us even walked long distances and tried to save the money we had before it became urgent to stand in never-ending bank queues. We all were there and we all know how it was. Did you think about the poor people then? If you remember how you went through that phase, you sure can think what would have happened to the poor section of the society and the rural area at the time of the cash crunch.
If you have watched the parade and know how grand it was, you can definitely make out that the amount of money that was spent for the occasion, which apparently goes on for three days, could just as well be put to better use. There are a lot of issues that we need to consider before we consider spending a substantial amount of money on a two-hour show. With that money, the government could have thought of opening educational centres for kids belonging to poor families, it could have opened a medical facility just for people who cannot get their check-up done even at government hospitals, it could have provided better amenities to soldiers deployed at various check-posts and states like Jammu and Kashmir (we all have seen the video of constable Tej Bahadur Yadav) so on and so forth. These are just few of the things the government needs consider for now; there are a lot many that it needs to address. If you spend crores of money in a single-day event, where else are you spending the money you collect from us? Why not the tax we pay is being used for the development of the country?
If we consider the Union Budget 2016 which was presented for the year 2016-2017, the Indian government had planned to spend Rs 19,78,060 crore in the economic year 2016-17, which was 10.8 per cent higher than the Budget of year 2015 for the fiscal year 2015-2016. Defence sector was given more preference (17.24 per cent of the total proposed expenditure in the Budget 2016) than other sectors such as Rural Development (4.43 per cent), Health and Family Welfare (less than 2.27 per cent which was planned for the Railways) etc. The expenditure for Education sector was even less than 2.27 per cent of the total expenditure. If you compare the spending of the BRICS nations, you would know that India had the lowest Education and Health allocation in the budget 2016 in terms of percentage. Why not allocate more in the Education and Health sectors and cut down the spending on defence? Why not cut down the expenditure of events like Republic Day parades and allocate the tax collection in something for the development of the country?
The government basically gets most of its finance from borrowings. The Income Tax and the Corporation tax which constitutes one third of the total government earnings go to interest payment, to meet the loss of post office and Public segment activities etc. Not a single coin goes in the development of the country. The service tax, which was increased and contributed 14 per cent of the total tax collected by the government, go to maintenance of police departments and defence. And again, not a single coin for the development of the country. Mostly, the entire tax collection goes to meet one or the other expenditure.
There was no point in organizing an event like that and spending that much money. We respect the day but wouldn’t we be prouder and happier if something generous could be done on such a big day? India will thrive and grow only if the government stops being ignorant and starts considering the issues that are staring it right in the face. The issues that were here, are still here and will be here till they are addressed.
Mr Narendra Modi, if you leading INDIA, take INDIA into consideration and not just a part of it.
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