With assembly elections looming in several states including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, the minute one switches on the idiot box these days or flees to a magazine, one is assaulted with blaring state government ads and splashes of Prime Minister Modi inaugurating mega projects in Uttar Pradesh or another BJP ruled state. And in the latest India Today, Rajasthan’s Congress government has highlighted the wonders it has performed in the public interest over 15 pages of text and evocative photographs, much no doubt, to the joy of publisher Aroon Purie.

While all this is highly beneficial for TV channel moguls and print media tycoons, one wonders who is paying for these ads with their riveting copy and arresting graphics. In the unlikely event of it being the party, it might be worthwhile for the Income Tax department to examine their books to ascertain its sources of income.

Most likely these expenses are lumped under the head of ‘establishment expenditure’ which hides all manner of sins of the Central and state governments. For instance, the establishment expenditure of the Central government at Rs.7.44 crore accounts for almost 15 percent of its budget revenue. Moreover, within the media (EW excepted), there’s a curious reluctance to call for slashing establishment expenditure of the Centre and the states, all of whom report large inflation-fanning fiscal deficits. Curious indeed.

Also read: 26 recruitment exam paper leaks occurred during BJP, Congress rule in Rajasthan: Beniwal