Post on Medial

Ever wonder why the road in your locality, or the drainage or sanitation in your city is never really fixed despite decades having passed at times? 😅😅 If no, then the authorities in your city or Govt in your State must be doing a good job for your region. Else, you should really ask why. Because more often than not, the answer is not political, but rather financial. Let’s deepdive where the money really goes! .. Just look at the numbers below. 📛 Punjab Govt spends 91% of its entire revenue collection on subsidies, pensions, salaries, loan & interest repayment 📛 Of that, 74% goes towards pensions, salaries & loan repayments. And another 15% towards power subsidies. And another 2% towards other subsidy programs 📛 Means, for every 100 rupees that the State Govt earns, it is actually left with just Rs 9 to build roads, hospitals, schools, courts, better police infra or launch any new schemes This is why it keeps adding more and more debt every year, and with that, it has reached a breaking point. .. Now, it's a given that salary and pension spending can not be brought down. But, loan and interest payments? Subsidies? Can’t those be taken care of? And yet if the Govts don't address that part, then it's clearly not interested at all. .. Take Tamil Nadu’s case: 🔆 It spends ~68% of its revenues on pensions, salaries, loan & interest payments. And another 12% on subsidies 🔆 Overall, it saves Rs 20 out of every Rs 100 to spend on development versus Punjab's Rs 9! 🔆 And that small difference has made Tamil Nadu India's most industrialized State, given the judicious use of that Rs 20 towards capex, attracting industries etc .. Now, look at Gujarat! 🔆 It spends 45% on pensions, salaries and loan repayments. Another 13% on subsidies 🔆 And, for every Rs 100 of revenues earned, it saves a massive Rs 42 to spend on capex, infra& attracting industries! And when you go to Gujarat, that Rs 42 of spends shows on the class infra, state highways, top-notch bus depots and canals, etc 🔆 This is why Gujarat could give the biggiest subsidies to people to install rooftop solars, leading to a 48% share in India's entire rooftop solar capacity 🔆 This is why Gujarat can afford to give billions as incentives to Micron, Tatas & CG Power to build semiconductor plants, but Punjab can not .. And mind it. Of whatever is left after subsidies, pensions, salaries, loan & interest repayment, a big chunk also gets eaten away by corruption across all States. How much? Simply unquantifiable 📛📛 .. Thus, my only ask here is: 🔆 Next time you hear your State politicians announce a record-high budget, ask them, how much remains after paying for subsidies, pensions, salaries, loans and interest. 🔆 Because, that's the actual budget that builds your towns, cities & more Rest is vanity 🙌🙌