Thirukural in Budget 2005-06

I was going through the print version of Finance Minister's Budget speech in Eonomic Times. I was not interested in knowing all aspects of the budget. I was browsing through the whole document. Surpringly there was no Yojanas or its ilk, like it used to appear in the previous budget announcements.

I read the complete report and came to concluding remarks of FM. It started by quoting Amartya Sen and then went on to draw parallel between his policy and the quote. Then came the most interesting aspect. I read it wice to believe what i was reading. I was reading a thirukural. It is written by a saint called Thiruvalluvar, two-thousand years ago.

The kural went on like this,

"Pini Inmai Selvam Vilaivu Inbam Emam

Ani Enba Natttirku Iv Iyndhu"

(Health,wealth,produce, the happiness that is the result, and security

These five, the learned say, are the ornaments of a polity)

I wanted to give the link to this speech, so i went to FM website. I got hold of Budget highlight Pdf. There were two versions available, English and Hindi. Here the second surprise was awaiting me. What was there on the conclsuion part in ET, was there on the front page of the Budget highlights. Interestingly, the hindi version also has thirukural in its first page.

Thanks Chiddu :-)