Financial Blues

It is rather unfortunate that most of us mortals, especially those from the hindustani sarkari sector are not able to distinguish rate from revenue. That reduction in rate may lead to rise in revenues is something that many of us are not able to appreciate. This realization dawned on me during my first stint at the (in)famous ITDC and got reinforced during my subsequent stints in the beautiful state of Madhya Pradesh.

Another realization that also got reinforced over time during my service in the sarkari sectors is that finance is not expenditure control, but it is rather unfortunate that it is viewed to be so even by the worthiest and mightiest of the sarkari lot. Well expenditure control is easy as one knows what heads of expenditure to clamp down upon, even if it screws up the operation in the long run. Revenue generation on the other hand is a tough job as one is not able to generally fathom, from which well the revenue stream is likely to come. And so the mediocres, that most of us are, choose the easy path and the casualty is the returns, short term as well as the long term variety.

And therefore one rarely comes across infrastructure projects of the kind that are desperately needed for the growth and development of the country. Tinkering and that too with a lot of fanfare easily passes of as development, that the average citizen is unable to comprehend.

How long shall this nonsense continue in my motherland, is a question that I shall forever be unable to answer. Nonsense for me definitely, way of life for most of the other sarkari mortals with exceptions of course.