Budget suggestions

Indian economy is facing tumultuous time and sometimes it even compels us to think twice about our future path and model of political economy necessary for the country's growth. The budget is due in the next few days. After some critical reflection, I have compiled some of my thoughts.
Below is the list:

Technology

Project LINK

• ·       Aadhar must be made mandatory.
• ·    All the IDs including ration card or passport or PAN or driving license or any local ID should be linked with UID.
• ·       Face recognition and biometric data should be associated with UID.
• ·       Link all the citizenship/resident benefits to the UID system.
• ·       Prepare the NPR database indirectly through project LINK.
• ·       Maintain good behavior records of the citizens and give privileges to citizens on the basis of good behavior records.

New ministries

• ·       A new ministry of rehabilitation and resettlement would be set up to institutionalize the task of rehabilitation and resettlement.  
• ·       NSSO and CSO could be scraped and a new department or ministry of Data Sciences (whichever is suitable) could be set up to establish a new architecture of Data collection, analytics, and services.
• ·       Ministry of Social audit should be set up which will institutionalize the approach for formalizing social audit mechanism of public-funded and semi-private projects.

Data reporting and financial analytics department or Ministry

• ·       A new department within the Finance Ministry should be set up for financial data reporting and analytics.
• ·       A comprehensive data reporting legal framework should be put in place.
• ·       Reporting entity should include all the businesses, temples, societies, trust, and organizations.
• ·       The department should build an entire ecosystem for data collection, jobs data, transactions, production, and consumption data. 
• ·       The department should ensure monthly reporting of all kinds of data.
• ·       It should outsource the task of data reporting facilitation and collection to the government-approved private agencies.
• ·       It should make utilities, mobile apps, software for near real-time reporting of data.
• ·       The law should mandate all the financial and banking software solutions to make provisions within their core banking system for such data reporting.
• ·       The reporting structure should take cognizance of the current data collection mechanism and should not reinvent the wheel.
• ·       Each business should be mandated to download the utility and report the data as per legal obligation.
• ·       The department should provide a 24*7 call center for data reporting. People should be able to give information over the phone using IVRS or through call center agent as well.

Social Audit

• ·       This subject is not mentioned in any list of 7^th schedule of the constitution. Hence the Union government is well within its right to make a comprehensive law on the social audit. With this law, the union government can curtail the prevailing corruption in the municipality level.

Unorganized sector

Project Uththan

• ·       Make dedicated street vendor markets in every city on the PPP model.
• ·   Assign a street vendor license to each vendor and link them with MUDRA loans, UPI and other electronic systems.
• ·      Quality assurance (Hygiene cleanliness service delivery etc.) for each vendor mandatory. Free training should be provided to vendors toward this end.
• ·       All the Subzi Mandis and special weekly markets would be enlisted, and organized.

Skill training hubs

Project Kaushal

• ·       A 24*7*365-day skill training government-managed residential township would be established in each state.
• ·       It would house all sort of training schools like Culinary skills, electronic equipment training, Truck driving, Repair workshops etc. so that any young boy/girl can simply walk in even at the midnight and get trained in some skill/semi-skill activity.
• ·       A Skill bus will be started which would travel to each corner of the city training people in certain skills.

Education

Project Samata

• ·       A mobile App will be launched for collecting the feedback on the performance of each teacher in the school.
• ·       All the government employees have to mandatorily send their kids to a government school for education for at least 5 years before class 12.
• ·       School education video series on subjects of corruption, environment preservation, cleanliness, Indian history, and new India.

Grievance redressal

Project Nivaran

A mobile APP will be developed for registering your complaints at CPGRAMS

Every municipality would be provided fund for the development of a mobile APP for grievance redressal reporting of the area.

A 24*7*365 call center would be opened to register complaints against government officers and issues related to government policies.

Project Jaankari

·       A 24*7*365 call center to provide information about all government policies

Environment

• ·      Government would provide promotional subsidy or tax rebate for deploying solar heater or solar cooker or other solar appliances. Every household should mandatorily deploy one solar equipment in the house.

Agriculture

• ·       A new model contract farming law would be brought in the parliament.
• ·       A village to village campaign would be carried out to handhold farmers in becoming producer to processor.

Veterinary

• ·       Shelter homes for stray animals to be set up on PPP model. Animals to be sanitized and vaccinated by the government and distributed to the public for adoption or they would be captured and released in the wild.

Health

• ·       Increase the number of seats for the medical students in government institutes.
• ·       A thorough audit of medical educational institutes should be done by the respective governments. MCI would be re-established again.
• ·       Streamline the AYUSH schools and AYUSH clinics by licensing and regulations.
• ·       Medical research and medical equipment manufacturing should be promoted through funding and resource provisioning.
• ·       Promotional subsidy by the government to set up wellness schools for training/certification in Acupuncture, Acupressure, Naturopathy, Yoga, Unani medicines.

Women

• ·       Relax the age limit for woman for each post/exam for woman.

Business Hubs

• ·       Every district should identify the core business activities or USP (unique selling point) of the district and district should develop a full self-sufficient township including manufacturing units, life cycle support system, upstream and downstream activities. It is like SEZ reinvented.
• ·      All the facilities, channels related to raw material, manufacturing, ancillary industry, packaging, transport, export logistics, maintenance, etc. should be developed. For this, land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement should be done properly.
• ·  The government should enable land provisioning, design, handholding of industry, administration, and management. The SEZ reinvented would be on mixed type taking the best of both worlds Indian and Chinese model.  

Population control

• ·       A comprehensive law on population control should be brought which would clearly highlight the treatment to be meted to people who give birth to more than 2 children and what should happen to the new birth after 2^nd child. Vasectomy operations should be incentivized by the government.

Administration

• ·       Municipalities would be given funds to update all the websites, portals, applications, and services. However, each activity would be audited through social audit mechanism.