Beyond budget

Since my years of adolescence to till date, I have been witness to enthusiastic and passionate debates about the budget, year after year. In my limited understanding of economics and accountancy, a nation’s budget represents its future revenue and expenditure. It identifies from which sectors revenue would be generated and how that hard earned revenue would be deployed for the betterment of the economy. In other words, it is all about how the budget would help or impair the common man on the street to meet his or her day-to-day living. This poor citizen cannot afford to carve a ‘future’ through the budget documents. The relief or charge is meant for specific period. Only the current cash flows are impacted. The budget of a nation in isolation cannot help its citizens to forge for themselves a “vision”. The current budget will be replaced next year and every year. The budget is an anticipated capture of a picture of a moving train; it is a document of here and now. The ability of this document to predict the end consequences or the unfolding of future is limited by its expiry date. No futuristic planning say for the next 5-10 years can be made by either the citizen or the nation itself based on a budget that will get replaced. The current budget will be consigned to history next June; and then next June, we can do only a post-mortem of achievements and failures/inadequacies. Successively, the nation has invariably fallen short on achieving its targeted numbers. The lessons arising out of these results aren’t looked at with interest to correct the course and identify reasons for not achieving numbers. The impediments that led to lower tax collections in FY26 need to be addressed and recognised for meaningful evaluation. Budgets must arrive from the smoulders of a deeply thought economic plan. They cannot be independent of the economic plans/direction; a nation may set for itself. The Ministry of Finance has to be in absolute sync with Ministry of Planning; the two must move in unison. A parallel has to be achieved. Beyond the budget is the “spirit of the nation”. It is this enthusiasm and zeal for the nation that will drive the achievement or otherwise of the targets. If the budget document is not a translation of the spirit of its people, then it is doomed to meet similar fate as has happened repeatedly in the past. In view of this scribe, one out of the many fundamentals for structural reforms is the need to have in place an “independent’ accountability process to determine responsibility for non-achievement. If one ministry has committed to either enhance revenue or reduce expenditure it must be asked why it fell short? Those reasons must be brought to the parliament floor so that corrective legislation is done to facilitate the plugging of the gaps. As a CEO/President of two large financial institutions if any unit (read sectors of government/economy) didn’t perform as per budget, I would put the unit (read ministries) on the mat to explain “issues” that were a stumbling block so that going forward these could be removed or, alternatively, I would call for revisiting the “assumptions”. Those could also be fundamentally wrong in the first place. This exercise, regrettably, is not done at the national level. The success or failure doesn’t have to be an exercise for political witch-hunt. Until now, the only thing traded liberally between one government setup and another are charges of corruption of all types with numerous manifestations. A ccountability must be without fear or favour, singular purpose must be to identify “reasons” for non- achievement. In doing so the “issues” must be maturely separated from the people involved. We tend to attack people and enjoy the applause for burying the problem. The nation knows well what ails it! The drive must be towards economic policy-making of a long-term nature. A mere input of a number against a budget item is insufficient. The measures and pathways for achieving that number must be examined, evaluated and determined; failing which it will remain an objective in obscurity. If achieved we will tend to applaud ourselves, and if it remains unachievable, we tend to search for scapegoats even this is rarely done unless there is political intent, motivation and gains to be had, only then we pursue failures. A nation that has a “youth bulge” must prepare itself by putting forth with clarity its economic narrative. We will have to work harder to create enough gainful opportunities for our growing youthful population. Any laxity or failure will gather a momentum for the making of a “social bomb”. The strategic narrative is easy to build. We all know our problems and issues. We don’t need the crutches of international financial institutions to tell us of what to do. We, and I sincerely believe in this, are an intelligent nation. To begin with, the narrative must address where we want to go? What is our vision and mission? What is the quality of current human capital and what type of human resources are the future need? What specific structural initiatives are needed? What tactical moves would be required? How will inefficiencies be expunged? How to get the right people into leadership positions for value-driven behaviour coupled with the ‘minds’ that are beset with a great sense of urgency to act? And, finally, the narrative must spell out the process of determining success through timely review of performance measures. All of these and many unlisted aspects will form the ‘future character of the nation’. From the wisdom of the Orient we can draw upon the concept that each man is blessed with the ability to achieving ‘emptiness’. This ‘emptiness’ is not the absence of something or anything, but is the presence of “possibility”. If we look at the sky, what do we see, “emptiness”, meaning the vast openness that is devoid of limitations. There is nothing overflowing or brimming; instead, it is the vastness of the emptiness that allows for filling it with a new idea, design, concept, etc. This can lead to transformation of ‘imagination’ that today is caught in the cobweb of ‘now and here’ into being intentional future space that will be willing to accept and embrace new beginnings and new opportunities. The ‘minds’ of policymakers (can also be read as politicians) like the pupil of the human eye, contract themselves the more, the stronger light there is shed upon them. (The words borrowed and altered from Thomas Moore). The heart of a policymaker must reside in his/her mind. The accumulated knowledge of recorded human history has been overtaken by the leaps of technological revolution. We must learn to accept that all nations will remain hostage to technological advancements and improvements in instantaneous communications. This requires us to concentrate on development of our “raw” human capital. A mere look at the apportionment of the budget towards education indicates, how much we are divorced from now and the future. To quote a man of wisdom: “The sophistication of economics and technology is in danger of out running the capacities of contemporary politics”. We must prepare ourselves for the future, not by the time-bound exercise of a budget document but by developing an economic map as a guide for the way forward. This itself must be the representative of the nation’s imagination. Our current successful foray in international politics, where we are seen as reliable and trusted allies for mediation, must not be allowed to remain a ‘political gain’; these engagements have silver linings of economic opportunities; let’s hunt for them, with a well devised strategy; let’s not repeat the same mistake of not translating enough our deep friendship with People’s Republic of China into ‘still greater’ economic bonds. The new emerging dynamics in the Middle East have brought down the pre- and misconceived ‘invincibilities’. The realities have dawned on most countries of the region. The back-stabbing of Iran by the rogue government of Modi will continue to serve as a lesson for Tehran for a very long time. The circumspect role of many Gulf countries is now in the open. We must align with the ‘new order’ and reset the country’s imagination. A budget document in isolation cannot achieve it. Let’s set the sails. Now. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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