All 2026-27 budgets, central and provincial, have now been announced and passed, but there remains an unspoken dichotomy between the aspirations of the central government and those of the provincial ones, on what each endeavours to achieve through its capital outlays in the coming year. While the 28th Amendment, or whichever number it is assigned, stands averted for now, the fact remains that unless somewhere down the road the objectives of the centre get aligned with those of the provinces, such a tussle will get to be not only harmful for national harmony, but also for the rather fragile overall national unity. In general, there seem to be two main opposing outlooks: the first is obvious, provinces want growth, whereas the current policies of the centre are clearly anti-growth; and the second, a bit less obvious, points to an increasing desperation to reach a developed level status by the provinces, whereupon people can tangibly identify cum relate to the fruits of democracy, albeit a notion not entirely shared by the centre for now. So, the provincial game plan, in essence, is to indulge in people-centric spending, currently most apparent in Punjab, while, in contrast, the centre seems more fixated on revenue collection, even if it means running the markets dry and the proverbial killing of the hen that........

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