Team Herald
PANJIM: The former Union Finance minister Yashwant Sinha who has presented five full and two interim Union Budgets on the floor of the Lok Sabha in past when asked about the present dispensation in the Finance Ministry mentioned that things have drastically changed now and the legacy and procedure is being eroded, much to the embarrassment of the Finance Ministry.
“Earlier, the finance minister used to go with proposals to the Prime Minister for consultation and guidance before the Union Budget and this used to happen about three to four times before the tabling of the Budget. I must say the Budget is prepared by the Finance Ministry. Now everything has changed. Today, the frame is worked by the Prime Minister’s Office and it seems some other minister for instance the Home Minister instructs the finance minister what needs to be added or deleted in the Budget,” said Yashwant Sinha.
He added that “the present finance minister now has no choice so she prepares the Budget what has been dictated to her. The gaps and figures of the Budget are provided by the Finance Ministry but the broad contours of the Budget is decided by the PMO and handed over to the finance minister who does not have much to do regarding the budget.”
When asked that the upcoming Union Budget is very closed to the State Assembly elections in five States in India, the former Union finance minister reacted, “Political ethics demanded that the Union Budget should have been postponed and there is a precedent. When Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister he had postponed the presentation of the Budget until the State Assembly elections were during that time. We do not expect this government to observe these constitutional niceties.”
He further added that the Union government “will try their best to include such false promises in the Budget which they hope will have an impact on the elections in the five State, especially in Goa and Uttar Pradesh.”
