I have always wondered why there is such a melodrama associated with the presentation of Budget.

Anyone who has worked in the Corporate world and has been in higher positions know that the annual reviews always include the scrutiny of the Budget made for the year versus what has been achieved. This is followed by the budget for the next year… a plan.

I have yet to come across any presentation made by any Government of India, irrespective of which political party they belong to, which has displayed the achievements made against what was budgeted.

The only takeaway that a common man gets during any budget presentation is the taxation part.This gives him a general idea of how much he would be saving at the end of the year and that too provided no new taxes are introduced within the year, which mostly happens too.

Beyond that, it is just about “Hum Ye Karenge”… “Hum Wo Karenge” with no relation to “Last year humne ye plan kiya tha aur ye hua”…. nothing but pipe dreams with no relevance.

So rather than looking at the dreams being spread once more through the budget presentations which will be made, how about we look at the achievements on this Government led by Modi, in the past 3 years and 7 months in the various areas, versus their claims and try and compare them with the previous Governments (UPA1 and UPA2).

2004: $699 Bn

2009: $1323 Bn

2014: $2035 Bn

2017: $2439 Bn

$624 Bn during UPA 1 ($124.8 Bn avg per yr)

$712 Bn during UPA 2 ($142 Bn avg per yr)

$404 Bn during Modi Sarkar ($112 Bn avg per yr)

2004 – 2009: 8.4% (avg approx) Max 9.9%

2009 – 2014: 7.25% (avg approx) Max 11.4%

2014 – 2017: 7.27% (avg approx) Max 9.2%

2004: $902.9

2009: $1237

2014: $1646.8

2017: $1861.5

$335 during UPA 1 ($67 per yr on avg)

$409 during UPA 2 ($81.8 per yr on avg)

$215 during Modi Sarkar ($59.7 per yr on avg)

As far as the economy goes, it is quite evident from the above data that the Economy of India did better during UPA 1 and UPA 2 than it has done so far during the Modi Sarkar Regime.

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Now lets look at some of the other important claims made by the Modi Sarkar. Especially the ones which have been hugely touted.

Total National Highways in:

2004: 65569 kms

2009: 70548 kms

2014: 91287 kms

2016: 101011 kms

Based on the above data we can see that

We can safely conclude that although Nitin Gadkari’s claims of 20+ kms per day and 40+ kms per day are way off the mark, Modi Sarkar has still built National Highways at a better rate than UPA 1 and slightly better than UPA 2.

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Another much touted achievement is the Rural Electrification of villages. Let us have a look at that too.

2005-2009: 59,882 (no data available for 2004)

2009-2014: 43,398

2014-2017: 16,105

UPA 1: 14,970 avg villages per year

UPA 2: 8,679 avg villages per year

Modi Sarkar: 5,368 villages per year

As far as rural electrification of villages go, the Modi Government’s exaggerated claims are nowhere close to the actual figures and are definitely lower than UPA 1 or UPA 2.

Mind you, there is still the difference between “electrified” (getting electricity to the villages) and 100% electrification (all households have electricity).

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Business Confidence is another term that keeps getting thrown around, so lets have a look at that too.

2004-2009 (UPA 1): 65.18 (avg)

2009-2014 (UPA 2): 56 (avg)

2014-2017 (Modi Sarkar): 56.3 (avg)

Looking at the above data it is again pretty clear that the Business Confidence Index was the highest during the UPA 1 period while the Modi Sarkar and the UPA 2 have pretty much managed to match each others performance in this area.

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Yet another hot topic is Corruption in India. Now, while we all know the reality of that the Modi Sarkar has managed to heavily rely on the Corruption Index as determined by the Transparency International.

Here is how the Corruption Index has improved over the past three regimes.

2004: 28

2009: 34

2014: 36

2016: 40

21.4% under UPA 1

5% under UPA 2

11.11% under Modi Sarkar

It is worthwhile to note that the Corruption Index (as an average) has not slipped down even during the UPA 2, which is rather surprising considering the UPA 2 is called one of the most corrupt Governments ever.

Btw, the Corruption Index is points out of 100. So 40 points out 100 is nothing to boast about. India still remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

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While, we, Indians, do understand that we are a Corrupt nation, we do have a wish to try and eliminate this evil from our society. And this can only happen by transparent and accurate information being passed on by our Governments to us.

The attempt of this article is to give a fair idea to the readers as to how the various Governments have performed.

The figures can be verified from the sources cited in the article and are as true as the Government Agencies wishes them to be true.

While the budget forms an important part of the review structure, an analysis of the performance versus the last budget is a must.

We do need to know if the Taxes collected from us are being put to use, if yes, in which areas are they being used and what have been the developments carried out for our benefit from our taxes.