Before parting .. FEBRUARY 26, 2010 By Vijay Kumar Concluding words of wisdom from Budget Speeches EVEN as the budget speeches are listened to with rapt attention, finance Ministers and their speech makers spare no effort to make a very effective concluding statement that should attract thundering applause at least from the treasury benches and now a days should be good bytes for the media. Here is a sample of the last lines of wit and wisdom of very serious finance ministers right from independence. R.K. SHANMUKHAM CHETTY - November 26, 1947 : If the fabric of the State is not built on durable foundations, it will be futile to try and fill it with the material and moral contents of a good life. If India, just risen from bondage, is to realise her destiny as the leader of Asia and take her place in the front rank of free nations, she would require all the disciplined effort her sons can put forth in the years immediately ahead. The willing help and co-operation of all sections of the community is required in maintaining peace and order, in increasing production and in avoiding internecine quarrels whether between communities or between capital and labour. I am sure my appeal for this help and co-operation will not go in vain. R.K. SHANMUKHAM CHETTY - February 28, 1948: From August 15th, 1947, the chains of our bondage have been broken and we are free to translate our dreams into reality. The plans are there but we find that our freedom was born in an era so fluid and fast changing that any predetermined step other than the next became obsolete before it could be taken. We feel like the pilgrim who drags his weary limbs finally to the mountain top only to find higher peaks stretching before his eyes. It is by no means the journey's end and the night falls and engulfs him in darkness. And like him we are inspired to pray in the spirit of the favourite hymn of Mahatma Gandhi - Lead Kindly Light. The next step is enough for us if it is illuminated by the star of our ambition and fortified by the faith in our destiny. JOHN MATHAI - February 28, 1949: A balanced national budget may and often does, cover a multitude of ill balanced family budgets. In this respect, we have still a formidable task ahead of us, the task of fighting want, sickness and poverty and raising the living standards of the minions to whom the emancipation of the country will be a mockery unless it is translated in terms of opportunities for a fuller, freer and better life. This task is not beyond our resources but it requires the co-operation of all classes and sections of the community in a spirit of partnership in a high adventure. I have no doubt that this co-operation will be forthcoming and I pray that my stewardship of the finances of the country may contribute in some degree to the accomplishment of this task. JOHN MATHAI - February 28, 1950: Sir, I must apologise also for the unconventional character of my speech. There my excuse is that I have always held that a Government Budget in the last analysis is a human document in the sense that it involves and has reactions upon the experiences and the emotions of multitudes of men and women all over the country. I think therefore it to appropriate that its presentation to the people's representatives in Parliament should be somewhat less impersonal than has been customary with us hitherto. C.D. DESHMUKH February 28, 1951: I have been greatly heartened in this task by a recent communication which I have received from an ordinary villager, who is neither in business nor in service, which I would venture to mention to the House. It is from one who at present pays no tax to any authority, Central, State or local. He says that he has a burning desire to help the Government of India in some way or the other. He has remitted a sum of five rupees to me and has promised to remit a similar sum every year. It is not the small amount that he has offered but the spirit behind the offer that matters and, so long as the common run of our people can produce men and women with this spirit, this country can face the future, however difficult it may be, with confidence. C.D. DESHMUKH - May 23, 1952: The edifice of our prosperity cannot be built on props of outside assistance without sacrificing something vital in the nation's spirit but can rebuilt enduringly only by the efforts of our own people. If the budgetary burdens are sometimes found to be irksome, I trust those who find it so in this House and outside will remember that we carry these burdens for ourselves and our children and not for some one else. I have no doubt that the realisation that the Page 1 of 8 people of this country are doing the utmost in their power to help themselves will widen the flow of assistance from our friends outside. C.D. DESHMUKH - February 27, 1953: The fulfilment of a programme of planned economic development depends not merely on the laying down of policies and making the finance available but on efficient administration and public co-operation. The Five-Year Plan which, in the nature of things, is bound to be the first of many more Plans, lays down the policy for the next three years in each major field of development. - C.D. DESHMUKH February 27, 1954: No idea of the vast upsurge in the national life can be conveyed by translating all this in terms of money or compressing it into a classified table of estimates and expenditures. The face of the country is changing and changing for the better. C.D. DESHMUKH - February 28th, 1955: I myself have been receiving from small people, sometimes students who wish to remain anonymous, small contributions towards the Plan. It is to me personally sustaining and heartening experience and if the spirit behind this continues to animate the people as whole, we can look forward with confidence to the successful implementation of this and of future plans. C.D. DESHMUKH - February 29, 1956: It is these people, sir, that have now girt their loins and stand ready to launch forth on their new, and so far their greatest, endeavour. They can rightfully expect us, their chosen leaders and representatives, to give them of our best counsels, loyal guidance and informed direction. - T.T. KRISHNAMACHARI - November 30, 1956: I am convinced that they do wrong who express skepticism at a time when the country ought to be thinking of nothing else but going ahead with the greatest determination. The Plan is a challenge, and it is a challenge which must be met with all the resources and ingenuity at our command. - T.T. KRISHNAMACHARI - May 15, 1957: A heavy responsibility rests on us all at this juncture, and I have presented to the House an approach in terms of policies and of proposals which is to the best of my judgement appropriate to this responsibility. I hope when the time comes for someone to judge whether we rose to the occasion or not, we shall have to our credit a record worthy of this House and of the nation. JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU - February 28, 1958: This budget statement is a minor event in our march forward. We have to look at it in the perspective of what we have to do and what we have to achieve, Above all, we have to realise that our success depends on ourselves and not on others, on our own strength and wisdom, on our unity and cooperation and on the spirit of our people whom we are privileged to serve. - MORARJI R. DESAI February 28, 1959: The annual budget is now something more than a simple account of Government's housekeeping. Each budget marks a stage in the country's continuous development and has to be judged by the contribution it makes to this development. MORARJI R. DESAI February 29, 1960: It is perhaps a truism to say that no one, much less an under-developed country like ours, can stand still or stay stagnant. We have to move forward and make whatever sacrifices are necessary for this. I have no doubt that this will be done and I would ask the House to consider the budget, which I am placing before it, against this background. MORARJI R. DESAI - FEBRUARY 28, 1961: We have chosen for ourselves certain social and economic goals. We must do our utmost to achieve them. This will mean hard work and sacrifices for some time to come. But there is promise of a rich reward in the shape of higher standards of living, more employment opportunities and a better socio-economic system. The tasks that we have undertaken are of great moment for the future of the country. We dare not falter at this crucial stage. - MORARJI R. DESAI - April 23, 1962: Higher levels of taxation no doubt impose a burden of sacrifice on our people. The point to remember is that there are only two alternatives to such taxation, inflation or stagnation. Without the requisite tax effort we would have to face either an upsurge of prices which would impose a much bigger and much less equitable burden on the community, or a prolongation of our poverty due to a slowing down of our development.