Assam Budget: Eyes On Space, Freebies On Ground

The Assam budget for the year tabled today (10th March) by Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog comprises of an exuberant display of high-ambition contrasted by a thinkable reality at ground. Everything comes in between the contrasting poles.

The first part ends in as high a declaration as launching a satellite of Assam’s own into the space. CM Dr. Sarma said that Assam will be the first state in the country to have its own satellite launched in the space. And why not? Space exploration comes under central government with the ISRO as the frontal agency. If Assam ends in launching its own satellite, then it will indeed be for the first time in the country. CM Sarma has told that a discussion with ISRO is underway but at the very initial level. 

Contrasting starkly to the highly ambitious project, the reality at the ground can be felt from the massive expenditure for freebies proposed in the budget. Notably, the share of it is increasing, which is implicative of the fact that the share of population that need it is no way decreasing. Let it be very clear at this point, that securing basic necessities of the poorest of the poor is a responsibility of the state and in this respect freebies may be a need for some people. However, unceasing of it for quite a long time strikes a chord—that something is not good at the ground. 

ASSAMSAT: Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Strong Grip Over Centre?

Launching a satellite to the space is obviously regarded a laudable task, that too if Assam owns its own one. Satellite launching has become very standerdised experiment in the realm of space science and it is no more a breakthrough, but it obviously remains complicated and sophisticated.

If Assam has to launch it then from where would it do that? Launching pad is not available in Assam, it would be from Sriharikota or from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center. Neither, Assam and for that matter any state of the country has any experience of developing a satellite of its own. It is to ponder whether any institute or university in Assam would be able to develop it, let alone launching.

As the CM told, discussions are on way with ISRO. What we can imagine of a probable scenario?

Going with what the CM said, we may think that some students from across Assam would be selected and sent to ISRO to get  trained and get involved in the process of developing the satellite. Let’s assume that this happens and the satellite is launched.

The next question comes with tagging it with Assam, in which case naming can be a suitable way out--if the satellite is named with Assam in it. Translating the speculation into reality would mean that Assam CM has developed a strong grip over the centre.

There can be other speculations as well. Although private players haven’t entered into space exploration in India unlike that in USA where Elon Musk’s SpaceX and NASA work simultaneously, can anyone guarantee that would not happen in our country? Well, these are speculations and we can express what we speculate. 

In that case it may be thought that selected private players will gain huge business opportunity out of it. Advantage Assam 2 has ended very recently and we saw the presence of multitude of investors there. Perhaps, we will have to wait a bit to know the exact underpinnings and the outcomes.  

What Signals Freebies Emanate?

The budget says that Assam will have around 55 lakh beneficiaries during this fiscal year and allocation of about 10,000 crore rupees have been declared, which is quite a huge amount.

As was spelt before, freebies may be a necessity and something to be ensured by the state for supporting survival of a section of the population. But inability of ceasing it implies that conditions of people are not uplifted. Assam budget has declared increase in freebies and the beneficiaries. Let all of us ponder over it.

The entangled issue along with it is the money. The Assam budget suggests that over 23% of the total budget will be covered from public debt, while the state’s own revenue accounts for only 22.4% of the budget. The largest chunk of the budget comes from central government, accounting for around 29%.  The implications of this are not that tough for anyone to grasp.