July 7, 2009 ☼ economic policy ☼ Economy ☼ fiscal policy ☼ Public Policy ☼ UPA government

In defence of Bibek Debroy’s purported defence of the UPA’s budget

Out of context

This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.

To draw attention to Bibek Debroy’s commentary on the second UPA government’s first budget, I wrote, on Twitter:

Bibek Debroy in IE: “If con is antithesis of pro, Congress is the antithesis of Progress.” http://is.gd/1pspa [@acorn]

In response, Zahan Malkani writes (via email):

This is regarding your Tweet about the IE opinion piece ‘Read Between the Lines’ posted on @acorn approximately three hour ago. I’m replying via email as my account is a protected one and I’ve realised that my replies never reach you.

The Tweet in question is, in my opinion, a blatant misrepresentation of the spirit and overall tone of the article by Mr. Debroy.

Sure, you did quote him verbatim, but thoroughly out of context. Not unlike the legions who quote Marx as having once said ‘religion is the opiate of the masses’, which completely misses the point.

Not to sound pretentious, but in an era defined by 140-character-or-less, it becomes all the more important for you to represent other’s work in an unbiased manner that captures the spirit of the piece.

As I see it, Mr. Debroy was rather upbeat on the new budget and its ramifications. The thesis, if you can call it that, seemed to be that this budget was rather a good sign, given the circumstances.

Indeed to draw from Mr. Debroy’s last paragraph,

“I am glad the Budget isn’t flashy and spectacular. It seems pedestrian. But given the constraints, it isn’t quite that… Despite public expenditure and the doubtful efficacy of Central universities in every state, there is nothing to kill green shoots.”

I would appreciate it if you posted an update reflecting the context of the article that you extracted the quote from. This government has a hard enough time ahead impressing critics like yourself (whom I readily admire for your work) without misrepresentations.

Yours sincerely,

Zahan MalkaniNow, whether or not the Indian government cares about twittering critics, whether or not its twittering critics matter, and whether or not the ball was inside or outside the line, Mr Malkani’s email is worth bringing to the attention of this blog’s readers.

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