26 India’s Financial Markets
But early signs suggest that fiscal difficulties could resurge by 2010. Proposed
expenditures are large while revenue collections could shrink.
The UPA government has initiated large-scale spending programs such as the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA),
15
increased the funding
going into Sarva Shiksha Ahiyan (SSA),
16
initiated the 6th Pay Commission
(In India, the periodic “pay commissions” decide on pay increases for civil
servants.), and possibly a raft of welfare provisions including defined bene-
fit pensions for 400 million unorganized sector workers. When implemented,
these programs, in a few years, could lead up to additional spending of well over
Rs.1 trillion ($21.5 billion). In addition to these spending ...