Doomed? Well, let's figure it out (pun intended!)
> Together, the total outlay for the FSB will likely amount to Rs200,000 crore per year — more than double the budgeted food-subsidy estimates for the current fiscal year. This huge expenditure could well make India’s fiscal recovery impossible, with current trends in government revenue and expenditure showing that while revenue growth has significantly weakened, expenditure growth has accelerated sharply.
> The fiscal stress India currently faces is worryingly similar to, if not worse than, the economic climate of the 1980s, which eventually led to the 1991 crisis. Add to that the Rs 200,000 crore going down the sinkhole.
> At least 50% will be eaten up my middlemen which include politicians and bureaucrats. This mostly due to the poor food-delivery mechanisms leading to massive leakages. No wonder most politicians have hit the bar to celebrate.
> Can India produce enough food to cope with the demand created by the bill? No! Especially during floods/drought etc, India would be forced to import food at much higher rates which would mean spending tens of thousands of crores of precious foreign exchange!
> That would translate to higher inflation due to the ballooning fiscal deficit.
> And what does all this mean for farmers? The very low prices of the subsidized food will distort the market and farmers who can’t sell to the government program will lose out in the open market because prices will be forced down.
> Many states, including Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi already have a subsidized food program so it is unclear how the two will run together or whether it will create confusion in both. Most likely the latter!
> It is estimated that within 5 years, the expenditure will shoot up to more than Rs 300,000 crores per year due to inflation and imports due to natural causes!
Friends, Indians, countrymen! Be prepared to dish out more taxes just like the tax surcharge on education. (We know where that money is going). We as ordinary taxpayers have no choice but to fund the profligacy of our netas for their vote banks.
For this humungous amount of expenditure, shouldn't the government instead develop infrastructure, promote growth, jobs, health, and increase the literacy rate? As the saying goes:
Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
But then, that wouldn't fill the Congress' vote bank, would it? At least that's what the Cong thinks! Screw you, screw me, screw the country! It all boils down to: KISSA KURSI KA! Amen