IF I WERE THE FM - Geeta Chandran

RUN UP TO THE BUDGET 2004-05

Geeta Chandran is a well-known dancer and choreographer. She is founder-president of Natya Vriksha and engages in a wide range of dance-related activities.

"MY PRIORITIES are very clear. First, to eradicate abject poverty and to ensure that every Indian citizen gets at least two meals a day. It is a national shame that with our GDP and other indicators of growth, we are unable to attain distributive justice.

If another scheme needs to be launched, then so be it. But it should contain specific targets and an in-built mechanism to deliver punishment for not reaching poverty and hunger eradication targets. My first priority would be to erase hunger from India.

"MY SECOND INITIATIVE would be to create a pro-women Budget. In every allocation, are 50 per cent of the resources reaching 50 per cent of the population, i.e. women? The answer is a clear no.

"MY THIRD INITIATIVE would be related directly to my field of passion "" dance. The Indian arts are being slowly crushed by the lack of patronage.

All forms of creativity like traditional arts, classical arts, tribal creativity, folk arts are at peril and are vulnerable to market forces. Even raising allocations by a meagre 0.5 per cent will relieve some pressure on the arts and will enable artists to survive.

"FOURTHLY, I WOULD give in to Minister Renuka Chowdhary's demand for enhanced allocations for tourism. This is a field in which India is lagging far behind. When one visits Sri Lanka, one is impressed at how deeply the citizens of that small island nation embrace the culture of tourism. Tourists are seen as an economic opportunity. In India, we see tourists as victims to be attacked and as grist for our petty rip-offs. We sorely need a national campaign to initiate tourism literacy."