BUDGET 2015

Dear Shri Jaitleyji

Even as I anxiously await to listen to your Budget speech tomorrow , I do hope that the concept outlined in my following earlier email will find an echo - however feeble - in your presentation

with regards ,

hemen  parekh / 27  Feb  2015

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BUDGETING     BY    OBJECTIVES

Dear Shri Jaitley ,

Come Feb 2015 and you will present your Budget in Lok Sabha

You will allocate thousands of crores of rupees to different ministries , for spending during 2015-16

You may even increase / decrease their allocations based on , to what extent ( % ) did they manage to actually " spend " their current year's allocations

The one and only emphasis is on " spending " !

As usual , no MP will ask :

"  But , what exactly did the Minister concerned achieve by spending this money  ?

What  physical / measureable targets did the Minister succeed in reaching / exceeding , with that money  ?

Where / What are the OUTPUTS  ?

Why  is it that no targets were set in advance , before the start of the year ?

How come , Minister was allowed to shoot first and then draw concentric circles around the hole afterwards ( at the end of the year ) , to claim BULL'S EYE  ?  "

In private sector , shareholders / bankers do not hesitate to sack the CMD / MD / CEO , if he fails to deliver on promised profit

Then , why are Ministers allowed to retain their posts ( - or even get kicked upstairs ! ), despite failing to deliver  ?

Dear Shri Jaitley :

MPs should know that YOU cannot answer these questions , simply because , at the time of the Budget Exercise , no physical OUTPUTS  got fixed for each Minister

What did get fixed , were only EXPENDITURE TARGETS  !

Simply because MPs passed the Budget  without fixing targets  such as following for 31 March 2015 :

*  Finance Minister

   >   GDP ..... 6 % ............ [ 10 % improvement ]

   >   CAD.......( -  ) 5 % .....[  20 % improvement ]

*  Commerce Minister

   >   Exports........ $ 350 Billion  ....  [ 10 % improvement  ]

   >   FDI..............$    50 Billion...... [  20 % improvement  ]

*   Railway Minister

    >   Lengths of Tracks...... 125,000 Km.....      [  Up by 10 %  ]

    >   No of Passenger Trains / day..... 10,000... [ Up by 10 % ]

*   Health Minister

   >   Chronic Hunger and Hunger Related Deaths

         8 Million / year .................................... [  Down by 20 %  ]

   >   Under-nourished people..... 200 million..... [ Down by 10 % ]

*   Social Welfare Minister

    >    Dowery Deaths / year....... 8,000...... ...... [  Down by 10 %  ]

    >    People without Toilets........ 500 Million....  [ Down by  20 % ]

*   Agriculture Minister

    >    Farmers Suicide/ year..... .. 14,000...............  [ Down by 20 %  ]

    >    Food Grain rotting / year..... 5 Million tons.....   [ Down by 20 %   ]

So on and so forth for each Minister

Some caution / suggestions :

*    Ignore the numbers given above. I could be factually wrong

*    Focus on the concept of " Management by Objectives "

*    Overcome the fear of " failure to meet the targets ".

*    Overcome the fear of " being ridiculed " !

*    Don't chop off the neck that dares to stick out  !

*    Only failure is , not fixing the targets  !

*    Actual vs Targeted achievements must be measured , on an ongoing

      basis , by totally independent THIRD PARTY agencies

      Ministers / Finance Minister and these Agencies , must agree in advance

     how the Agencies will go about " measuring " the Actual Achievements

      The method of measurement must be transparent and well publicized

      in advance

      Agencies shall have no role in fixing of Annual Targets

      That is best done by the Prime Minister - the CEO , MakeInIndia

*    There must be at least 10 performance parameters for each Minister

*    Parameters themselves could be selected / prioritized , based on an

      ONLINE PUBLIC SURVEY / OPINION POLL , from Govt web site

*    If conducting such an ONLINE POLL for the forthcoming budget is

      too late , same could be done on a printed form , by current MPs /

      MLAs / Rajya Sabha Members

*    Results of the SURVEY / POLL , must be published

I hope readers of this blog will contribute by passing on this message to

>    all of their friends / relatives / acquaintances / colleagues

>    as many legislators whose email IDs they can find

>    to Shri Jaitley ( ajaitley@sansad.nic.in  /  ajaitley@del5.vsnl.net.in )

>    Everyone in their CONTACT list

OR,

>   request them to look it up on...www.hemenparekh.in

Somehow , we must bring pressure on Lok Sabha Members , NOT to approve the forthcoming budget , unless TARGETS are set in advance

*   hemen   parekh  /  06  Dec  2014