:: Dilip Cherian

Budget countdown

By Dilip Cherian

May 31 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to roll at North Block, where for some weeks now babus had begun the exercise to enable the incoming government to present Budget 2009-10. While the rest of the nation was focused on polls, revenue secretary P.V. Bhide and his babus conferred with industry chambers on Budget related issues. Ashok Chawla’s appointment as finance secretary, therefore, seems particularly well-timed. As economic affairs secretary Mr Chawla, a 1973 batch IAS officer, was in charge of the department which prepares the Union Budget and is used to challenges.

Now as India’s top finance babu, Mr Chawla has the unenviable task of helping the economy through the recession and also fix the weaknesses in the financial system. More pertinently, with a new government assuming office, Mr Chawla will have to analyse not just plain old economic issues, but also its sensibilities. The new government in turn will try to wield in their own babus into the exercise while preparing a full-fledged Budget in July, keeping in mind the changes in direct tax along with other duty re-jigs and sector-specific schemes. Clearly, the game of musical chairs would go on once Mr Mukherjee gets his people in place.

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Jittery AP babus

With Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy back in the saddle but having dumped a big chunk of mantris, a churn is expected. So babus are anxious. But babus in Andhra Pradesh are getting the jitters on account of a more serious factor. A recent verdict of the state high court has empowered the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths to arrest babus, though not (yet!) of the IAS brand, who are found to possess wealth disproportionate to known sources of income. Reports indicate that the chief minister himself would like a few more heads to roll.

At least 44 crorepati babus were booked last year, including officials from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Panchayat Raj, Irrigation and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. But these 44 are now fearing the worst. According to the ACB, these babus possess assets worth Rs 90 crores. However, after the ACB’s disclosures last year, the state government had moved rather quickly to issue a memo that no action (read arrest) be taken against these babus until "investigations were completed". Consequently, the accused babus continued their business as usual. But now, armed with the high court directive, it is only a matter of time, sources say, before the bureau’s sleuths haul in the accused!