ddress. By Rupa SubramanyaYou’re a veteran prize fighter who’s seen better days. You’re back in the ring, having been battered and bruised. This might be your last round. Do you go for your opponent’s jugular, taking the risk that you’ll be knocked out? Or do you hang back, hoping for a breather and the chance to fight another round? At least you’re not down for the count yet….European Pressphoto AgencyPrime Minister Manmohan Singh, centre, arrived at Parliament to attend the first day of the budget session in New Delhi Monday.That veteran of a thousand campaigns, of course, is Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister, and he’s stepping into the ring again on Friday when he announces the budget for the year beginning April 1. What should we expect?First, some background on why we even need a budget. In the days before the Keynesian revolution, governments were expected to balance their books year after year. So the government’s budget statement was basically a non-event except for players in the financial markets who might profit from a small tweaking of the rules of the game,toms shoes.After Keynes, the thinking was that governments should run deficits in bad times to help stimulate the economy, and build up savings in good times as a contingency against future needs: much like a family which borrows when times are tough and repays its debts in good times.So, for instance, observers would watch for whether the government was providing the stimulus needed to combat a recession. But again, this was largely the preserve of business gurus and finance mavens looking to make a fatter profit. Economists took an interest in big things like deficits, but for most ordinary folks, the exercise wasn’t of much relevance.In an emerging market such as India, however, budgets represent much more than a projection of the government’s accounts or even of Keynesian fine-tuning of the business cycle.They are, for better or worse, a vehicle for delivering economic reform, or not,toms shoes, and takes on the color of a national political debate.That helps explain why there is so much hand-wringing,toms outlet, speculating, and prodding of Mr. Mukherjee in advance of Friday’s budget statement. It comes not just from the business and finance types, but from political pundits and even from Bollywood “item girl” Rakhi Sawant. She comes across as a buxom ringside cheerleader egging on the veteran prize fighter but nonetheless reportedly wants the government to give a budget that is “fair to everyone.”And this year, the budget will be especially important after the failure of the current government to deliver many, or indeed any, important reforms – whether privatization of state-owned enterprises or looser labor laws.Next year’s will be the last in the mandate of this government, as elections will occur no later than 2014. (Of course, elections may come sooner if the government opts for an early poll or a crumbling of its coalition forces its hand.)Just as in every Westminster democracy, pre-election budgets tend to be loaded with freebies an Related articles:

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