Are we a nation of liars?

In a report about India published in 2010 the Asian Development Bank said," The central budget in 2008-2009, announced in February 2008, seemed to continue the progress towards FRBM ( Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2003 ) targets by showing a low fiscal deficit of 2.5% of GDP. However, the 2008-2009 budget quite clearly made inadequate allowances for rural schemes like the farm loan waiver and the expansion of social security schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( NREGA ), the Sixth Pay Commission award and subsidies for food, fertilizer and petroleum." " The huge increase in public expenditure in 2008-2009 of 31.2% that followed a 27.4% increase in 2007-2008 was driven by the electoral cycle with parliamentary elections scheduled within a year of the announcement of the budget," said the report. In short the Bank is saying that the Congress deliberately broke the FRBM Act to bribe the electorate to win the elections in 2009 and lied to the Indian public by predicting a deficit of 2.5% in the budget. This is what we have been writing repeatedly for the last 4 years. The FRBM Act became law in 2003, during the BJP government of Mr Vajpayee, so why has the BJP not objected to the chicanery of the Congress. Why did the BJP not start a public campaign against a criminal waste of public money? Sadly because vast numbers of Indian people are poor and unable to see beyond their noses in their struggle for survival. They happily see it as income distribution from the rich to them and do not understand that the Congress will wrench the money out of their grasp by increasing taxes on every goods and service, that the Congress will force the Reserve Bank to keep rates low despite double digit inflation to maintain a false growth to increase tax collections to finance the false handouts and that if the same money had been spent on infrastructure it would have created millions of jobs allowing them to earn money with dignity. Thus opposition pasties chickened out from telling the truth to the electorate because they wanted to win elections and because in states in their control they were guilty of the same crimes. Freeloading journalists muddied waters by arguing about economic theories.  Only the people remained ignorant of the truth.