7 Ridiculous Things For Which Your Tax Money Is Spent

The government collected 13,53,192 crore from indirect taxes in the year 2013-14. That is a huge part of our everyday money. Here’s taking a look at all the ridiculous things this money is being spent on. The list includes drowning companies, termed as sick PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings), failed schemes, and expenditure on publicity events.

1. British India Corporation

British India Corporation, a textile company, is the ultimate example one can give for a failing government investment. It employs about 1,800 people. All the employees come to work, everyone gets paid, earns a bonus, there are overtime shifts, promotions and job changes.

The only problem is that nothing has been produced in the company for the past 10 years!

The company was officially declared sick more than twenty years ago, and since 2005 has accumulated losses of around five crore rupees.

2. NREGA

Ever since its launch in 2005, a series of corruption, thefts, political interferences, inefficiencies have kept the employment scheme from working. A lot of critics argue that it has been doing much more harm than good to the economy of the country, and that the funds would be better employed in making the rural population more skilled. The old ‘teach a man to fish and feed him for the rest of his life’ adage comes to mind here.

3. Nirbhaya Fund

After the unfortunate events of December 2012, the government, forced by the public outrage, said ‘never again’.

As response it set up the Nirbhaya Fund to implement safety measures for women. 2 years and 3000 crore later, not a single project has taken off.

4. Air India

The largely unpopular airline company incurred losses of more that Rs 18,000 crore in the last three years alone.

Despite these figures and its consistently poor performance, the government continues to invest in it in the hope that it can be revived.

5. Hotel Corporation of India Ltd.

A subsidiary of Air India, it runs hotels such as the Centaur chain. It is a sick PSU with 1279 employees. In 2015, the government approved Rs 35.29 crore to the corporation for the renovation of its properties in Delhi and Srinagar.

6. Yoga Day

Events held across India in parks, churches, homes etc., led by the Prime Minister, marked the first Yoga Day Celebrations.

Over 12 lakhs was paid to the Guinness World Records Limited for the commercial services provided.

7. Publicity

The central government spent more than 6000 crore rupees on all kinds of publicity in 11 years from 2004-05 to 2014-15.

This money has been spent on publicity before elections and of other things like government achievements, schemes etc. Every year the government spends lot more than the allocated budget on these things.

This post is a part of Transformiti’s campaign to bring about an awareness about the taxes we pay and move towards becoming a responsible India. You can visit to know more about it.