CEA Subramanian toes government line, more or less
The focus of the chapters in the Economic Survey 2019 is interesting, both for what they talk about and also for what they omit to discuss
- Jul 4, 2019,
- Updated Jul 4, 2019 8:09 PM IST
An economic survey cannot cover the whole gamut of things the government needs to do on the economic front. In terms of utility, it is more about understanding what the chief economic advisor and his team thinks, rather than what the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister considers a priority. That is because in the past CEAs have brought out excellent and thought provoking Economic Surveys, but the Finance Minister has often ignored the recommendations or the thoughts expressed in those pages.
Will it be different this time? It could. The new CEA, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, was chosen with a lot of care, and at least his past work suggests that his thinking is in alignment with the government at the Centre on many subjects, and that is why I went through the Economic Survey (especially Volume 1) with great interest. The focus of the chapters is interesting, both for what they talk about and also about what they omit to discuss.
Exclusive club for high tax payers? Govt could give you special privileges on roads, airportsWhat is equally interesting is what the economic survey does not consider important enough to examine at length. The problem of loss making and debt ridden PSUs and the enormous amount of tax payer money that goes into supporting them does not seem to worry the CEA unduly. Also, there was no big focus on long-term reforms in the agricultural sector - something one would have expected given how important farm distress was in the last five years, and the PM's promise of doubling farm incomes by 2022.
Maybe the CEA had too little time to prepare the Economic Survey and these have been kept for later publications. It would be interesting to see whether the Budget presented tomorrow is in sync with what the Economic Survey thinks are important issues - or completely ignores them as many previous Budgets have done.
An economic survey cannot cover the whole gamut of things the government needs to do on the economic front. In terms of utility, it is more about understanding what the chief economic advisor and his team thinks, rather than what the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister considers a priority. That is because in the past CEAs have brought out excellent and thought provoking Economic Surveys, but the Finance Minister has often ignored the recommendations or the thoughts expressed in those pages.
Will it be different this time? It could. The new CEA, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, was chosen with a lot of care, and at least his past work suggests that his thinking is in alignment with the government at the Centre on many subjects, and that is why I went through the Economic Survey (especially Volume 1) with great interest. The focus of the chapters is interesting, both for what they talk about and also about what they omit to discuss.
Exclusive club for high tax payers? Govt could give you special privileges on roads, airportsWhat is equally interesting is what the economic survey does not consider important enough to examine at length. The problem of loss making and debt ridden PSUs and the enormous amount of tax payer money that goes into supporting them does not seem to worry the CEA unduly. Also, there was no big focus on long-term reforms in the agricultural sector - something one would have expected given how important farm distress was in the last five years, and the PM's promise of doubling farm incomes by 2022.
Maybe the CEA had too little time to prepare the Economic Survey and these have been kept for later publications. It would be interesting to see whether the Budget presented tomorrow is in sync with what the Economic Survey thinks are important issues - or completely ignores them as many previous Budgets have done.