Annoying anchors are crying for relief. Opportunist politicians are also crying about budget being anti-poor. Asif Zardari from his palatial residence of Bilawal House and Imran Khan from his Mcmansion of Bani Gala are going hoarse demanding relief. We are really a spoiled nation when it comes to many thing. For instance, in every budge the civil servants of ever cadre expect salary hike and they believe that it’s their birth right. Democratic governments which are weak and fragile have to increase their salaries knowing full well that they contribute nothing to the economy and are the biggest cash outflows and a colossal burden. These civil servants never accept what government gives them. They always take it to the roads demanding and threatening for more.
When Zardari was in government he did the same and got the same reaction. Imran Khan would do the same and would get the same reaction in KP when it comes to the unveiling of provincial budget. That and then the opposition parties including PML-N would call their budget anti-poor and relief-less and we would see yet another circus in the mindless talk shows of hundreds of channels out there. Budget for any country or for any household for that matter is all about managing the available resources by keeping spending within means. For poor, underdeveloped and uncertain country like ours it becomes a game of number-shifting and clever allocations to get the things going. Subsidies, debt servicing, and defense budget are the biggest slogs out there. These are luxuries which we cannot afford, but no government can dare to even touch them. So in every budget governments have to increase all of them. For example, in this 2015 federal budget, the development budget is Rs. 700 billion whereas defense budget is Rs. 780 billion. And don’t even get me started on the budgets for the education and health sectors. Subsidies also eats up a large chunk of whatever little revenue we get from meager sources. Next year it will be the same again and we all are culprits.