Deft Draughtsmanship sans Broader Vision

By not paying attention to the wish lists of business and industry groups, P Chidambaram has done the right thing. The measures related to tax reform in Budget 2007 are the correct ones, but fiscal consolidation is being achieved by compression of capital expenditure. The recent tragedies of Nandigram and Dantewada are symptoms of a developmental process that has gone horribly wrong and there is a need for a new vision of development. Time, however, is running out.