Chidambaram's obsession in Interim Budget: UPA's 'glorified' 10 years!

In his last budget, that was presented yesterday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram emphasised on the ‘development work’ that the UPA has done over the last decade.

“Ten years ago, there were 51,511 kms of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), today we have 3,89,578 kms. Ten years ago, the Central government expenditure on education was Rs. 10,145 crore; this year, we have allocated Rs. 79,451 crore. Ten years ago, the Central government spent Rs. 7,248 crore on health; this year, it will spend Rs. 36,322 crore,” the finance minister said.

The FM’s favourite phrase seemed to be ‘Ten years’. It was, what seemed like, a last, desperate, plea on behalf of his party to voters to give it a third term in office.

But, as Dhiraj Nayyar writes in this Firstpost article , voters won’t buy Chidambaram’s comparative statistics.

“For one, there are statistics other than economic growth that matter to voters. And the one which matters most is inflation. On this, the UPA 2 has a terrible record, with near double digit inflation through its term in office, significantly higher than inflation in the NDA period and probably the longest continuous spell of double digit inflation (powered by food items) in India.”