Over the past month, there has been a lot of media hype surrounding the Indian economy. We are being relentlessly told that the country’s economy has never looked better, that India is now an economic superpower in south Asia, which gives it the upper hand while bargaining over economic matters with its neighbours, notably Pakistan. The general elections have been advanced to cash in on the “feel good factor”, and the finance minister has announced a number of sops aimed at nobody in particular, but with the hope that it will attract votes.

A soaring gross domestic product growth rate, a relatively stable inflation rate and a bull surge in the stock markets are definitely indications of economic health. But every balance sheet has a column for liabilities; and so one must ask — who are the people feeling good, what is their proportion to those who are not, or are feeling worse?

The economic problems of the country are mounting — the population explosion which puts a huge strain on the economy; poverty; unemployment; homelessness; the appalling state of healthcare; the sharp rise in prices of commodities, whatever the wholesale price index or inflation figures may indicate; fall in educational standards; environmental degradation; corruption and so on. How can people “feel good” if these issues are not addressed — and are seen to be addressed — and instead, mobile phones and air travel are made cheaper?

By the 2001 census, India’s population is 102.70 crores. It went up to 104.95 crores in mid-2002 and would have been much higher but for the deaths of millions of infants owing to the lack of healthcare. The population is expected to double by 2031, if not earlier. Everyone accepts that the population is a time bomb. Yet apart from creating a population commission, the government has not done much. Even 28 years after the Emergency, the words “population control” are taboo. The subject is referred to as family welfare and attached to the ministry of health at both the Central and state levels.

This has an offshoot. According to government statistics, 26.20 per cent of the people were living below the poverty line in 1999 — in absolute terms, about 26 crore people. The poverty line was defined by a planning commission task force back in 1979 as minimum daily per capita consumption of 2,400 calories in the cities and 2,100 calories in the villages, and an expenditure of Rs 49.09 and Rs 56.64 on non-food expenditure like clothing, shelter, transport and so on, in the villages and cities respectively. If 26 crore people fall short of the 1979 index even today, one can imagine the number of people below the poverty line if the norms had been updated. Both the tenth plan and the last budget promised a 15 per cent poverty alleviation — but what are the specific proposals to do this, and how far have they succeeded?

There are almost 6 crore unemployed in the cities, going by government statistics; no reliable data for the rural and unorganized sectors is available. The numbers of the jobless is fast increasing with educational institutions spewing more educated youth and arable land being fragmented owing to population pressure. Where are the jobs for these people?

Also, the stock markets may be bullish, but is the enhanced flow of money leading to more industrialization, or is it going to the Harshad Mehtas and Ketan Parikhs? The picture is equally dismal in the case of housing and healthcare. And we seem to have become so immune to corruption now that it is accepted as a fact of life.

Now, to come to the specifics of government action or inaction.

The government has shown a deficit of Rs 2,300 crore in the railway budget and Rs 1,53,000 crore in the interim budget. As against this, industrialists and business together owe banks about Rs 1,50,000 crore. Have the high-profile industry bodies ever publicly tried to persuade their members to pay off their debts? It would have obviated the need for fresh taxes or a reduction in subsidies. The government, after it failed in its attempt to write off the non-performing assets because of an uproar in the Lok Sabha, ordered the banks to either recover the money or confiscate the property of the debtors. It has been more than a year since, but no one knows how much money was recovered or what properties were confiscated.

Every year the government places before Parliament a list of income tax defaulters. This list is usually headed by Bollywood film stars. This means that the government has established the default amount and yet could not recover it (that these film stars are also much feted and get nominated to the Rajya Sabha, all by the government, is another story). As it is, our tax base is insignificant. Go to a dentist or a lawyer, in most cases you will have to pay in cash. But even with such a poor base, the arrears in tax collection run into thousands of crores of rupees.

Even if half this sum could be collected and spent on public health, many of our government hospitals would have been state-of-the-art. But this would not have helped the private luxury hospitals sprouting everywhere.

Government money is being shamelessly looted, and the culprits are bureaucrats and politicians of all hues. The Central Bureau of Investigation is investing 10 major scams like the share scam, the fodder scam, in which the total amount involved is Rs 21,487 crore; this is excluding the Telgi scam which, in itself, equals this figure. Of this, the CBI has been able to recover only Rs 5.36 crore. Many more scams are only waiting to be exposed.

Just the salary of government servants eats away 50 per cent of revenue expenditure. The government’s huge work force needs trimming, not only to save on expenditure but also to increase accountability. But look at what is actually happening. The railway minister created seven new zones at a cost of Rs 3,600 crore, against all advice, merely because he wanted a zone for Bihar. But since he cannot transfer the staff rendered surplus in one zone to the new zone in Hazipur, there is an excess in one railway and shortfall in another.

The government also talks about reducing non-plan expenditure. But what do we see? The Union cabinet has 80 members. Of these, 40 ministers of state are sitting idle — they even went to the prime minister asking for work. And to think that the government spends at least Rs 10 lakh a month on each minister. It is the same in the states in these days of coalition politics.

We do not know what our ministers achieve on their foreign trips, and while we are not told how much was spent on these trips in which the babus even take their wives, it must run into crores. Jaswant Singh went abroad 28 times in 2001, a record so far; and even Jyoti Basu went 19 times in 23 years with zero achievements. Mayavati spent Rs 76 lakh from the state treasury on her birthday, and created an Ambedkar park with nearly Rs 100 crore. And yet we talk of reducing non-plan expenditure! Who cares if 90 per cent of our primary schools have leading roofs? Whatever the corporates or the North Block mandarins may say, are there any real reasons for feeling good?