New Delhi, Feb. 8 -- No matter what one thinks of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, one has to concede that it was consistent throughout. It was fiscally profligate in both its first and second terms. In contrast, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has been inconsistent in its behaviour. It was fiscally prudent in its first three years. It inherited an impossible fiscal retrenchment target and it reduced the (true) fiscal deficit from around 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 4.1% and below. The oil price crash of 2014-16 came to its rescue, of course. However, in the last two years-2017-18 and 2018-19-it has undoubtedly botched up its copybook and has a lot to answer for. Governments finance their fiscal s...