Panel Discussion 'Arthashastra'
on Budget 2008 Held at XIM, Bhubaneswar
XFIN, the finance
association of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) held
Arthshashtra 2008, a panel discussion to review the Annual Union Budget for
2008-09. The distinguished panelists who shared their views on the budget were
Mr. Jagadananda,
an eminent social activist, Mr. Trilokya Jena, Commissioner, Income Tax,
for the State of Orissa, Mr. Abani Kumar Mahapatra from Infosys
and Mr. Sridhar Giridhar of the Standard Chartered Bank. The
discussion was presided over by Mr. Nageshwar Pattnaik, Chief
Correspondent for the Economic Times.
The forum was opened for
discussion by a presentation by the XFIN highlighting the key features of the
budget and the relevant questions to be discussed upon by the panelists.
Amongst the key features that
came through after the discussion were issues relating to the upliftment of the
poorer sections of society and why, inspite of being the fastest growing economy
in the world, we held the 128th position in the Human Development Index. Other
than that, the level of health care available to the poor sections were
considered in the light of PPP as mentioned in this year's budget.
Towards the end of the
discussion, Mr. Jagadananda highlighted the fact that the poorer sections did
not have a strong lobby to monitor their development and advancement, and how
the social activists needed to step in and lobby for their cause. He mentioned
how by being 'active citizens', we can help the cause of the rural poor. The
problems were attributed to the fact that the budget was more of an outlay
mechanism rather than outcome based where bodies would actively monitor the
outcome and not the outlays. The discussion was ended with a plea by Mr.
Trilokya Jena to the students on how they should take up the cause and help the
state government with projects and give suggestions on how to structure the
resources for the planned expenditure and not just discuss the budget which
would be forgotten in a short span of time.
The discussion was followed by a
Question-Answer Session where the panelists answered to the student's queries
regarding the budget.
