The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, March 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

White Paper on Punjab economy today
P. P. S. Gill
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 24
A White Paper on Punjab’s finances and economy will be laid on the table of the Vidhan Sabha tomorrow. Replete with tables, graphs and a grain of truth, this 80-odd page “status document” is intended to make people aware rather than apportion blame. It covers the period from 1991-92 to 2001-02, for which comparable data was available, and includes the terms of both the Congress and Akali governments. Punjab had turned into a deficit state in 1984-85. Beginning that year, the state saw a spell of terrorism, President’s rule and an elected government for a short term. The turnabout came after the 1992 elections. All through, the bureaucracy had ruled the roost.

For the first time, three issues — finance, economy and corruption — have come to centrestage, together. These hold the key to the state’s future, which is apparently not bright. What does one expect from a White Paper? For one, it is expected to generate a lot of political heat and some light. It refers to the wide gap between revenue receipts and expenditure and heavy outgo on four major money-guzzlers: salaries, wages, pensions, interest repayments and grants-in-aid to educational institutions. Interestingly, Punjab employees, who constitute just 2 per cent of the population, consume 70 per cent of the total revenue receipts by way of salaries/wages.