'Minimum Government' pledge takes back seat as staff compensation soars

Pensions and salaries took away more than a fourth of government's revenue spend in 2017-18 and 2018-19

In his political campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the general election of 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said this: “I believe the government has no business to do business. The focus should be on Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.” 

Looking at the size of the government, however, this promise seems far from being fulfilled. The spending on salaries and pensions of officials in general government and defence services has only gone up, if we look at the actual spending from 2014-15 to 2017-18. 

As a percentage of overall revenue expenditure (non-capital spend such as administration, salaries, welfare