Feb.27 : The feel-good factor across India on Friday underscores finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s largesse to the country’s burgeoning middle class, with whom he has been more than generous. Microwave ovens, prepackagd imported goods, mobile phones, toy balloons... all these will now be cheaper. It is also a big “thank you” all over again to voters who re-elected the United Progressive Alliance. With the tax concessions and change in slabs, Mr Mukherjee has forsaken Rs 26,000 crores in direct tax revenue, but he has also gained Rs 46,500 crores through increased indirect taxes. Unfortunately, though, these indirect taxes have a bigger impact on the aam aadmi and the poor. Mr Mukherjee did nothing to upset any section of society, but he did not do enough to push agricultural production or indicate what the government proposed to do to tackle food inflation. In the trillion-dollar-plus Indian economy, a few hundred thousand crores for agriculture and social welfare required for true inclusive growth is loose change. The FM outlined a four-point agenda for increasing agriculture production, but more is needed. Today, for instance, there are 25 commodities which can be given a minimum support price, but only four or five get it. If there was procurement for pulses and oilseeds, which are in tremendous short supply, it would have been more meaningful. Or take the social sector: he said 37 per cent of the total Plan outlay was reserved for this, but refrained from saying how much of an increase it was.At the same time, Mr Mukherjee must be congratulated for two important announcements. One was on bringing in administrative reforms, which he acknowledged had been pending for long, and which is a systemic structural and institutional weaknesses in government which causes bottlenecks in the public delivery mechanism. The Economic Survey released on Thursday mentioned very clearly that if there was improvement in infrastructure, both urban and rural, and reform in governance and administration, it was possible for India to move into double-digit growth and even become the fastest growing economy in the world in the next four years. But Mr Mukherjee has not spelt out how such reform will be brought in. The second major announcement was recognition of climate change, for which he provided some tax concessions.Individual taxpayers will be a happy lot as there will be only two forms to fill. Even more exciting is the “Justice To All National Mission” which promises to reduce the backlog in the courts from 15 years to three. In the past too, particularly in the Rajiv Gandhi era, we have had several missions: some were successful, such as the one on telecom; while others, such as the one on pulses, were not. The finance minister has been specific about identifying 60,000 oilseed villages in rain-fed areas, but he will need to have a mechanism to conduct an audit of progress on all his announcements, and fix responsibility — rewarding those who do their job and achieve targets, and punishing those who do not. This will ensure his government’s intentions get translated into reality. He quoted the great sage Kautilya to describe what he intended to do in his Budget. Perhaps Kautilya will not be disappointed, and like the stock market which gave him a 335-point salute, Kautilya too will give Pranab Babu a pat on his back.