Non-spending power

Till August this year, the government had barely managed to spend 28 per cent of the Plan expenditure budgeted for 2012-13. Indications are that much of this amount may be unspent at the end of the year. At a time when the finance ministry is finding it difficult to make ends meet, the unspent funds may prove a blessing in disguise. The joke doing the rounds in government corridors is that bureaucrats who spend the least on social sector schemes and return the rest to the finance ministry will be rewarded with better postings.