THE Governor, Dr S S Sidhu in his address to the budget session of the Assembly has pegged Goa’s growth at 12 per cent. But Goa’s fiscal health does not appear to be as good as Dr Singh felt and expressed on the floor of the house.

A fair amount of revenue collection is key to better financial performance by a government. And Goa has shown flaws in this respect. Notwithstanding the fact that the government had announced some bold measures in the budget for the year 2009-10 to enhance revenue base to reduce deficit and also limit borrowing from the market, so far no meaningful and well-directed initiative has been undertaken to implement special revenue mobilisation. It is intriguing that the government has failed in this regard. Had it implemented the measures they would have helped it in raising revenue to the tune of Rs 500 crore annually. This would have also helped in curtailing the revenue deficit, reducing market borrowings and also providing opportunities to take the development projects. Interestingly the government implemented the minor proposals but the major measures which could have fetched good revenue are yet to be invoked. The land replenishment-cum-green environment charge from the mining industry to make good the loss suffered by the state and its people over the years is expected to bring in Rs 375 crore per year. It had intended to levy the charge of Rs 30 per tonne of the mining reject. If the government was not sure of the legal implications of these measures it should not have gone ahead and made them as a part of the budget. Their inclusion and then non-implementation points to utter lack of right application of mind and budgetary rules by the officials who helped the government in preparing the budget. Fortunately, Goa did not suffer much under the impact of the global meltdown. Else, the situation would have been worse. We need to take into the account the realities facing Goa’s economy and finances from various points of view. Goa’s financial position might still not go out of control. But certainly the financial perspective is not so rosy. What Goa needs today is a pragmatic approach to raise revenue through industrial investment and development. For this it is important to invest in basic infrastructure which requires huge money. The government must improve the functioning of its departments and innovate and implement measures to boost revenue.