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What do you get by putting together 48 of ‘develop' and 31 of ‘scheme' – along with ‘grow' (35), ‘increase' (31), ‘plan' (26), ‘economy' (19), and ‘benefit' (11) – even while limiting ‘challenge' and ‘problem' to 6 and 3, respectively? The answer is ‘Budget Speech' as a simple analysis of ‘bs.doc' on >http://indiabudget.nic.in would tell you.
In 10 sentences
If you are too pressed for time to read through the speech, Microsoft Word can help you with AutoSummarise by reducing Pranab Mukherjee's 13,226 words (in 765 sentences) to less than 70 words in 10 sentences, including ‘Reduction in basic customs duty on raw pistachio from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.'
For starters, the pistachio kernels are often eaten whole, either fresh or roasted and salted, and are also used in ice cream and confections such as baklava or biscotti and cold cuts such as mortadella, as Wikipedia informs. “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces (42.5g) per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease,” reads a quoted attributed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Fresh or roasted
Well, that can be said of the Budget, too: you can take it whole, either fresh (that is, ‘live' through the TV or the Net), or roasted and salted (with the experts' analytical comments liberally rubbed in to the Finance MInister's proposals).
And, apart from ‘risk' in 4 places, the speech does have one ‘heart' towards the end, where he urges, “With oneness of heart, let us all build an India…” Let not that single reference unnerve you because ‘common man' and ‘ aam aadmi ' also figure just once each, as against more than 50 of ‘government' and 100 of ‘crore'.
For those who love the rhetoric, however, the speech has a lot to offer, such as that the parliamentarians ‘must lend their voice and expertise to influence public policy in the wider national interest,' or that ‘the biggest reforms are not the ones that make headline, but the ones concerned with the details of governance…'
Tailpiece
Overheard at a collective Budget-viewing event:
“Wake me up when Part A is over.”
“Zzzz…”
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