The Economy : Hard - on Whom?

Finance minister Yashwant Sinha has been talking of having     to take hard decisions in his forthcoming budget. This has led to much kite-flying on what the budget is likely to contain. One question is which sectors of the economy does Sinha have in mind when he talks of hard decisions. Since the finance minister has been understandably reticent in regard to specific measures, the media has been full of speculation.

In Davos, Switzerland, Sinha referred to the difficult fiscal situation in India and spoke of having "to take some very strong steps to bring the fiscal deficit under control, especially the revenue deficit". According to him, the revenue deficit was in fact "the only major problem area of the moment". What he did not specify was how he proposed to reduce the revenue deficit, how much by mobilising additional revenue and how much by cutting revenue expenditure.