A budget is not merely about numbers, receipts and expenditure.  It is about what is to be done with our money, what policies and services are preferred, how resources are spent, and getting good value for our money.

AP  draft   budget for 2002-03  conceals  as  much   as   it   reveals.  An expenditure of Rs. 32,981 crores is proposed for the year.  Of this, wages and pensions of employees account for Rs. 11,090 crores, or 82.7% of the Rs 13,408 crores tax revenues!  This is quite alarming.

There is a well-known Telugu saying “Andhrulu arambhasurulu” - meaning people of Andhra

A friend repeatedly tells me of the many people he personally knows who wouldn’t even miss if a lakh of rupees was stolen from them and whose life style wouldn’t change one bit if they should suddenly lose 10 lakhs or more. But these very people would wince if approached to support any worthy public cause or activity. People who brag about their financial successes clam-up and withdraw like snails when anyone suggests such contributions. But they are ever willing to fund monuments to their egos.

When a secretary of George Washington, excusing himself for being late, said that his

watch was too slow, the general's reply was, "You must get a new watch, or I must get

a new secretary." If this were the case, most of us in Hyderabad would be changing

secretaries every week. Emerson said, "I could never think well of a man's intellectual or

moral character, if he was habitually unfaithful to his appointments.'

All of us have numerous experiences of meetings which started late and ended even

It is not uncommon to see a housewife bargaining with a vegetable vendor over the price of vegetables, or a passenger bargaining with an autorickshaw wallah, or an employer negotiating the salary of the prospective employee. Often a housewife goes back all the way to the vendor to show him the rotten baingan picked up at his vegetable stand! We are all very particular about getting the maximum value for our rupee. There is nothing wrong with that. It is hard earned money and we are not going to fritter it away. Neither are we going to keep quiet if somebody tries to cheat us.

“The punishment suffered by the wise who refuse to take part in the government, is to live

under the government of bad men.” Plato

Many of us have heard of numerous stories of wealthy individuals and successful businessmen who appointed trustees, managers and accountants to handle their affairs and a few years later discovered to their dismay that they have become bankrupt and often do not have any chance to recover their misappropriated assets.

With MCH elections round the corner, many people are wondering what all this fuss is about. Roads will only receive periodic make-up, garbage will not be cleared and streets will not have lights. We will continue to wait endlessly at MCH office for simple services or shell out a bribe and people will be figuring out ways to avoid taxes for services they do not receive. The Mayor and Council have no real powers. So what can we the citizens do?

Rashid is a resident of Hyderabad. Some years ago he needed a no objection certificate from MCH to sell his house, and for that he had to clear all property tax dues. He approached MCH to know how much he owed in taxes. He was not seeking a favour. He wanted to pay taxes. And yet, even for this information he was made to run from pillar to post. After 9 months and 36 visits he got the answer. But only after he shelled out as a bribe an amount equal to half the tax due! This is not an isolated case.

Elections to MCH are round the corner. After a long gap of 15 years, blatant violation of the Constitution and a judicial directive, elections have been finally announced! Elections are vital to democracy. Unfortunately our electoral process is severely flawed. I am not talking merely of inducements, impersonation, intimidation, and myriad other things we talk of in our drawing rooms - but of flaws in the electoral rolls. Electoral rolls are the heart of an election and if they are flawed the whole process is perverted.

Between the big things we cannot do and little things we will not, there is always the danger of doing nothing. Regulating the city traffic or setting up systems for garbage pick-up – all require more planning. But simple things like standing in queue for services? This is one thing that can be easily accomplished.