Austerity in India?

Talmizur Rahman

The policies adopted or announcements made by the government are often pro-people on their face value. The recent austerity drive launched by the Union Finance Ministry, on its face value, deserves to be welcomed. If pursued in letter and spirit, it would mean saving huge amount of money by the exchequer, which otherwise would be squandered by our ministers, bureaucrats and other VVIPs and VIPs in their quest for five-star luxury and comfort under the guise of rendering public service. The Finance Ministry’s direction to two Union ministers to move out of five-star hotels appears to be in the right direction if austerity is to be the order of the day. However, nothing can be taken on the basis of its face value. Every such move and follow-up action needs to be analysed threadbare before commenting on the final outcome. The Finance Ministry directing the ministers or the MPs to fly economy class or a few ministers and other VVIPs abiding by such instructions for the time being does not, in effect, mean austerity. Any austerity drive, to be effective, has to be comprehensive, encompassing all aspects of a public figure’s official life. It is the public exchequer that bears the exorbitant cost of keeping our VVIPs and VIPs in good humour, and a austerity drive plainly means a cut in the expenses incurred by a public figure in the discharge of his duties. Unfortunately, our high-ups are, almost as a rule, seen to be mixing up their private, family and official lives invariably at the cost of the exchequer.

The Finance Ministry appeared to be running into a bumpy terrain in its austerity move at the very outset. While External Affairs Minister SM Krishna came up with a plethora of excuses on being directed to move out of five-star hotel, his deputy, Sashi Tharoor, went a step beyond to describe the economy class of airlines as ‘‘cattle class’’ and the passengers as ‘‘holy cows’’. Again, several allegations of partisan approach by the Finance Ministry in its austerity move have already surfaced, forcing Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to fly economy class with a view to setting a precedent. Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi followed suit by flying economy class while Rahul Gandhi made it by train to Ludhiana. However, one must remember that one swallow does not make a summer. Accordingly, a handful of our VVIPs taking to austerity measures once in a blue moon does not in any way imply that austerity is on the move.

Any austerity move, to be effective, must include in its agenda a drastic cut in the perks offered to our high-ups. It is highly pertinent at this juncture to refer to utter misuse of the perks provided at government cost quite often by family members of a public figure or senior official entitled in sheer violation of the existing regulations. For instance, it is quite common to witness the wife or other members of such a VIP’s family to be freely using the government vehicle allotted under regulations to the public figure or official.

Austerity does not imply flying economy class alone. If this aspect alone is to be insisted on, austerity may very well amount to playing to the gallery through the media. What about the long convoy of vehicles accompanying our VIPs? While security is definitely an important factor, one fails to comprehend as to why a VIP should take along with him a battalion of officials and juniors. Does that not mean that the brunt of avoidable expenses fall on the public exchequer? Likewise, what about our chief ministers opting for helicopter trips for distances as short as less than 100 kilometres within the State?

Since long, both the Centre and the State governments have made it a habit to organize functions, marked by extravaganza, to highlight what they call ‘achievements’. Such functions, which cost the public treasury in crores, can very well be avoided in the interest of the public. However, our high-ups can never compromise with their agenda of playing to the gallery through the media to send the message across to the people that they are public servants of the tallest order.

Austerity cannot be achieved without the mindset of our VIPs undergoing a sea change. Having made luxury and comfort at government cost, contaminated further by roaring corruption as the guiding philosophy of their lives, it is simply unthinkable that a change of mindset of our high-ups would be realized. As old habits die hard, it is beyond one’s comprehension as to how our high-ups, basking in five-star luxury and comfort at government cost, would even try to mend ways. However, one certainty remains. If this country-wide drama of austerity for the gallery continues to thrive, the VIPs would, once in a while, enact an austerity show by flying economy class or by undertaking a train journey, followed invariably by thunderous drumming of his or her commitment to austerity before the press.

As long as any drive for austerity remains merely cosmetic and fails to strike at the roots of lavish squandering of public money, one cannot but visualize such a move as a flash in the political cauldron of some of our political heavyweights to attract public attention with a view to minting political capital.

(The writer is a journalist) THE SENTINEL