CRISIS Are you a concerned citizen? Do you know-how has the Government spent the public money over the few months? In this article, we look at some of the seemingly futile public expenditure by the government in the previous few months.
The Indian economy is currently CRISIS in a state of turmoil with an unprecedented slowdown in the domestic economy in its modern Indian history. The Coronavirus pandemic isn’t gone yet and according to some reports, it is here to stay for the next few months. The extension of
the sudden lockdown has made sure the economy to CRISIS be almost crippled.
In spite of all these challenges, the government has made some expenditure that needs to be scrutinised although the mainstream media hasn’t covered it enough yet.
1. The construction of the new parliament building at a cost of Rs.922 crores: The new parliament is a part of the 3km Central Vista from Rashtrapati Bhavan till India Gate as suggested by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Central Public Work Department
(CPWD), its construction agency. According to the new plan, the new parliament would be triangular in shape and would be facing the existing heritage sites. The plan also includes a suggestion for constructing a central secretariat for the Government’s CRISISministries.
A budget of Rs 922 crore was allocated for the same. It has received a green nod CRISIS for its construction from the Ministry of Environment Expert Appraisal committee despite the opposition from various opposition parties and various organisations deeming it to be an
unnecessary expenditure.
2. Pompous display to acknowledge Corona warriors: While each one of us is grateful to all the corona warriors. The Indian Government decided to go even a step further by organising a grandiose show by showering petals acknowledging the Medical staff, Sanitary workers and the Police officers. While the government referred this display as boosting the morale of the nation but it raised many eyebrows as the amount spent on it remained undisclosed.
3. Beautification of the pond made the poor homeless: On 9th May, ANI in a report pointed out on how the Madhya Pradesh Government removed some poor in the slum CRISIS from their domicile reportedly “encroachment” near a pond in Rewa. The tehsildar of the area, RN Tripathi was quoted stating, “Work of removing encroachment is underway. This is being done as part of the beautification of the pond as directed by the state government”.
4. Letting go of defaulters to the tune of Rs 70000 crore: RBI as a part of its routine accounting process let go of an amount of around Rs 70000 crore, due from 50 defaulters, including the likes of wilful defaulters namely, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya. Although this didn’t account to direct expenditure by the government it created a stir nationwide with the Government and the apex bank undergoing heavy criticism CRISIS for its decision.
