Ministers, not all, have begun rolling out their ideas, intentions, policy approaches and some of the immediate programmes in view, all adding up to a welcome burst of activity. From whatever date the 100 days are counted - as the Government has completed five weeks by the end of June - what matters is action, beneficial for citizens and the country, efficient in execution and productive in terms of outcomes, whether for the economy or polity as a whole.

All eyes are now on the Union Budget (2009-10) - applicable for the remaining eight months of the fiscal year - which will be unfolded by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on July 6. The Budget will set the macro-economic framework for the year, in a period of global downturn taking toll of all economies including India, to some extent or the other, and thus it would seek to nurse recovery which is incipient but could still yield a 6 per cent growth.

There are huge expectations for the budget, more than in normal times, to kick-start the economy, provide tax and other reliefs and incentives for investment, extend the required assistance to the sectors affected by the global recession and make larger allocations for all flagship programmes on the social agenda for inclusive development. There are far too many demands from Ministries, such as commerce, textiles, steel, coal and aviation for substantial relief measures, duty cuts and protective levies on imports, or special financing such as in the case of Air India. Infrastructure will be one of the large areas of public investment.

More than the expansionary budget that is inevitable, what is awaited with great interest is how dexterous Mr Mukherjee is in trying to match resources, to the extent possible, so that he could claim to have contained a runaway deficit. How decisive the Government is in the politically changed situation will also be reflected in what the budget will tell us on disinvestment, oil pricing linked to market (where again China has stolen a march over us), and financial sector reforms, amid the keyed up anticipations of India Inc. There is equal interest among foreign investors and international institutions on the budget from the new government perceived to enjoy greater stability.

No major economy, developed or emerging, can escape fiscal deficits and controlling them is given lower priority than stimulating growth in both recession-hit advanced countries and the slowed down emerging economies. The rich country grouping (OECD) will have deficits at 7.7 per cent and 8.8 per cent of combined GDP for this year and 2010 respectively while USA tops the league of deficit nations with 10.2 and 11.2 per cent of GDP though President Obama is committed to bring the deficit to half by the end of his first term (2013). Maybe Mr Mukherjee would outline a roadmap for fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability while hopefully making the budget liabilities more transparent.

Luckily for him and the country, the monsoon is not playing truant and, though delayed, rains were reported all over north India by the last week of June. So the kharif sowings could pick up giving a ray of hope for farmers. But the spread of rainfall over the next two months should be even for the country with its rain-fed cultivation of not less than 60 per cent. Inflation is in negative territory, mainly the base effect, but hidden are the excessive market prices for cereals, pulses and edible articles as well as vegetables. Far from any deflationary prospect, the rate of inflation will be rising in the latter half of the year. There can be no optimism on the price front.

“Food security” is the major promise to the electorate and the time has come to deliver on it. Whatever else it may do or may not, giving cereals at Rs. three per kg for below poverty line (BPL) population would have to be ensured. Build-up of foodgrain stocks should facilitate implementation but it should go to targeted groups everywhere, without leakages, and this would depending upon how efficiently the public distribution system is revamped. This is a huge commitment countrywide other than the few states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where rice is already being issued at rs.2 and re.1 pr kg respectively.

But one cannot ignore the reality of prices of grains and other food articles ruling excessively high for the so-called above poverty line (APL) people, especially those hundreds of millions in the category of low income or lower middle classes in both urban and rural areas. There has to be a measure of food security for them as well - a larger mass of politically conscious population. It is here that Government's ability to bring down high prices and maintain stability would be tested and both fiscal and monetary policies come into play to manage the demand and supply balance.

All the programmes being chalked out for the first 100 days by Ministries would, at least for the present, be overshadowed by the policy objectives, programme allocations and the directions emerging out of the Budget, and until it is voted by Parliament by the end of July. Policy framing or programmes being chalked out over the “100 days” is not the problem but making sure that they get operationalised and produce visible results is the real challenge for each Ministry. The assurance is these would be monitored at the Prime Minister's office to certify that we are getting governance.

The failures on the power generation front have been so palpable that at last Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde is bestirring himself. The country is desperately short of power - nowhere worse than in the national capital where the people unbearably took to streets to shake up authorities - and no longer the present generation would put up with power or water shortages as is happening in many parts of the country. The situation demands much more than creating mechanisms like committees of secretaries to go into or monitor developments. In most cases, we are discovering where we were three or four decades back and re-inventing the untried or failed solutions. We recently reminded ourselves of drought-proofing agriculture included in our old five-year plans. Now that the monsoon has revived and Agriculture Minister Mr Sharad Pawar ruled out a drought, we can call it a day. (IPA Service)