Just don?t do it

Everyone can talk in a democracy. It?s the heavy duty of public functionaries to listen.

Everyone can talk in a democracy. It’s the heavy duty of public functionaries to listen. That duty is rarely heavier than that demanded of the finance minister in the weeks before the Budget. Industry tells him what to do for public good. Then industrialists tell him what he absolutely, urgently must do for their private good, which is, but naturally, an integral part of the public good. Farmers’ lobbies tell him he must do something for the so many million toiling masses. Then they tell him not to forget the not-so-poor agriculturalists either.

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Economists — a particularly tough encounter for FMs. Four economists produce five opinions, a British prime minister had observed. Indian finance ministers could tell him he underestimated economists. The FM meets some economists (the invite list is subjected to critiques GDP figures never get). The hundreds he doesn’t meet tell him what to do via the media and professional journals. Many of those who meet him retell their advice via newspaper columns.

There are several other interest groups/experts/professional associations who offer, asked or unasked, must-do Budget lists. Then there is the whole lot of us, journalists. We have the most fun, honestly. There isn’t much private interest at stake and we are paid to comment on public affairs. Till there’s a tax on editorials, journalists will remain the most fecund, if not necessarily the most profound, source of pre-Budget advice for the FM.

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