UNION BUDGET 2010 Massive Price rise - Negative Growth rate in Agriculture Sector : SFI

The Union Budget 2010 comes in  a context when entire country is reeling under the impact of a massive price rise and has witnessed a negative growth rate in the agricutlure sector. Urgent steps should have been taken to curb price rise and provide relief to the common people. The budget presented by the government completely betrays these concerns.

The budget also shows the insensitive attitude of the government towards addressing the problems in the education sector. The education sector in India is marked by a dearth of funds with more than 90% of our population in the relevant age group not having access to education. The promised spending of  6% of GDP has been conviniently ignored by the UPA this year as well. There is only a small increase of Rs 5000 crores for primary education sector in the country. This is way below the required amont to fulfill the promises made in the Right to Education Act. MHRD’s own estimates have put the required spending for Right to Education in the Eleventh Plan at Rs 1.73 lakh crores. This gives an annual requirement of Rs 34,600 crores per year as oposed to the total Rs 22000 crores announced in the budget. As far as higher education is concerned the Revised Estimates for 2009-10 suggest that the allocation to higher education sector was only Rs 14389 crores in place of the original allocation of Rs 15429 crores made in the 2009-10 budget. This shows the deceitful role of the government in spending more money on the higher education sector. Also this year there has been a meagre increase of only Rs 1461 crores compared to the 2009-10 budget. This exposes the empty rhetoric in the tall claims being made by the HRD minister to expand the number of universities and other higher educational institutions in the country. To put it simply this budget has completely failed the expectations and needs of the student community in the country.

While the government has not announced any concrete steps to control price rise especially that of essential commodities (the President’s address terming it as inevitable), the budget proposals plan to make it even worse for the common people. There is a direct attempt to drive inflation even higher by proposing a hike in the prices of petrol and diesel by announcing a 5% increase in customs duty on crude petroleum along with a Re. 1 per litre increase in central excise duty on petrol and diesel. This will amount to an increase of Rs 2.50 per liter in petrol and diesel prices.

There is also a flawed approach in the budget which seeks to control the fiscal deficit by taxing the poor more and the rich less. Direct tax exemptions have been doled out to the rich classes with reduction in direct tax rates for high income earners along with real estate developers, hoteliers etc which will lead to a revenue loss of Rs 26000 crores. This comes in the backdrop of a Rs 80000 crore tax exemption given to corporates last year. At the same time the government plans to raise Rs 60000 crores from levying indirect taxes.

The budget also exposes the renewed neo-liberal thrust of the UPA government with increased emphasis on disinvestment and fiscal prudence. Rs 40000 crores worth of disincestment programme has been announced by the Finance Minister. There is also talk about further deregularizing the financial sector by issuing banking licenses to private players and Non Banking Financial Companies to operate in the banking  sector. The dangers of a unregulated banking sector have become clearly evident after the financial crisis in the world economy. Yet blinded by its neo-liberal dogma the UPA is pursuing the path of financial deregularization when everyone else is doing the opposite. The budget also talks about opening up retail trade which can have disasterous implications for livlihoods of millions of people.

It is also shocking that food subsidy has been reduced by over Rs. 400 crore despite the commitment to enact a food security legislation. Fertiliser subsidy has also been cut by a whopping Rs. 3000 crore from what was spent last year. These moves to reduce subsidies in the name of targetting come at a time when inflation is galloping and agricultural output growth has become negative. The anti-people approach of the Government in reducing subsidies was laid bare in the Economic survey, which has prescribed the dismantling of the PDS and initiating a “coupon system” for food and fertilisers. The government’s antipathy towards the rural areas can also be seen in stganation in Central Plan outlays for agriculture, irrigation and rural development in real terms. 

Apart from its pro-rich bias and the increased neo-liberal thrust this budget also seeks to undermine the federal structure of our country, where states have not been allocated the rightful 50% share in sharable central taxes. There is also a squeeze in central assistance in real terms.

The SFI believes that the misplaced priorities and the pro-rich bias which mark this budget are going to add salt to the wounds of the common people, who are already having a tough time making their ends meet today. In the eudcation sector also in the absence of any increase in spending more assaults of commercialisation and privatization are bound to follow.

We appeal to the student community to unite against this anti-people and anti-student budget and wage a militant struggle demanding an increased spening in education as well as fighting against all anti people measures, especially those which seek to make the inflationary situation even worse.

ANTI PEOPLE INFLATIONARY BUDGET BY AN INSENSITIVE GOVERNMENT : CITU

 

CITU denounces the tone and tenor of the anti-people and pro-rich General Budget 2010 -11 presented by the Finance Minister today. The Budget is a cynical and insensitive response of a corporate-captive government to the woes of common people, hit by an unprecedented price rise of essential commodities specially the food items. While the sensex is up in immediate response to the budget, the CITU warns that the budget is bound to re-fuel the inflationary expectations along with inflation.

CITU deplores the governments’ single point perverted agenda to reduce subsidy instead of bringing down the price level. Its pro-rich bias is clear in its tax proposal wherein a revenue loss of Rs. 26,000 crore in direct taxes mostly on account of concessions to big corporates, has been more than absorbed through extraction of more than 60,000 crore through indirect tax imposed from the common people. Governments’ insensitivity becomes glaringly clear when non-withstanding the decline in agriculture production it has chosen this time hiking the prices of fertilizers across the board i.e. increasing the price of urea by an administrative pricing before the budget and then increasing the prices of potassic and phosphatic fertilisers through Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) policy w.e.f April, 2010. The NBS is only going to push the profits of fertilizer manufactures/importers and lead to higher cost of production of all agriculture products.

The hypocritical anti-poor intent of the government is reflected in its decision to re-introduce import duty on both crude oil and petroleum products as well as to increase the excise duty on diesel and petrol by Rs. 1 per litre. Impact of both will be an hopping increase in petrol & diesel prices by around Rs. 2.60 per litre which will have a cascading effect on the present inflation. This is Coupled with its hidden agenda to deregulate the pricing of petroleum products under the cover of Parikh Committee recommendations. CITU re-iterates that the recommendation of Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas on Pricing of Petroleum Products to eliminate import duty on crude oil and to reduce of excise duty on petroleum products cannot be brushed aside by the government of the day. CITU notes the proposed cess of Rs. 50 per tonne on coal will not only increase the price of coal but also the price of electricity which is another major input for agriculture. With increase in price of agriculture inputs like fertilizer, diesel and fuel, the food security of the country is being put in jeopardy while the budget talks about a food security bill.

Similar tokenism as well as crude joke is presented in budget through an allocation of only Rs. 1000 crore for social security of 47 crore unorganised sector workers. The budget sppech by the finance minister did not miss to mention about the restrictive conditionality of “below-poverty-line” in this respect which itself excludes 90 per cent of the unorganized sector workers from the purview of such social security benefit. Similarly budget totally ignores the plight of 1.4 million anganwadi workers and need for universalisation of the ICDS scheme by way of making meager increase of Rs 538 crore in allocation compared to revised estimate of last year. 

CITU regrets to note that the budget does not include a single proposal submitted jointly by all the trade unions during the pre-budget discussion while most of the suggestions given by the corporate houses have found place in the budget including the continuity of the stimulus package for them announced in the wake of global recession. CITU charges the Finance Minister of misleading the Parliament by stating that the ownership has been expanded through the Governments’ disinvestment programme of PSUs, knowingly fully well that in the case of NTPC and REC the retail investors participation was nominal and SBI and LIC had to subscribe the shares. The declaration in the budget that the government will mobilize Rs. 25,000 crore through disinvestment of PSUs during the current year is totally illogical as the PSUs had a reserve surplus of Rs. 5,35,840 crore on 31.03.2009. As a matter of fact during the year 2008-09 the reserve and surplus has increased by more than Rs. 50,000 crore a part of which could have been utilized for new investment and job creation.

CITU strongly denounces total lack of any positive steps in this budget to reduce the price rise, to create and protect employment and to insure social security of millions of workforce and calls upon the working class to oppose the anti-people budget through the Satyagraha Programme on 5th March 2010.

All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers on Budget 2010-11

The Union Finance Minister Sri Pranab Mukherjee has increased the allocation for ICDS by a meager Rs.538 crores. This is grossly inadequate in view of the fact that today only around 42% of the children below 6 years of age are covered by ICDS and as per the directive of the Supreme Court, the scheme is to be universalised by 2012. The UPA government has assured the Supreme Court that it will universalise ICDS, ‘with quality’ by 2012. This budget shows the callous attitude of this government towards the most important programme for the overall development of the children below 6 years, who constitute more than 15% of our population.

In 11th Five Year Plan, the revised plan outlay for ICDS is Rs. 72, 877.52 crores. But including this fourth budget under the 11th Plan, the total budgetary allocations made by the government, till now is only Rs. 26,998 crores, which is nearly one third. This is highly condemnable. The decision to implement the World Bank proposed changes in ICDS will result in the dismantling of the ICDS.

This budget is shockingly insensitive to the plight of the anganwadi workers, who work far below than even half the minimum wages and helpers who work below than one third the minimum wages, in most parts of the country. No Allocation has been made either to increase the honorarium of the anganwadi workers and helpers or to provide them any social security. The Prime Minister had promised some social security and pension provisions to the anganwadi workers and helpers to a delegation of our Federation in 2006. Even after four years no measure is taken by the government in this regard.

The only mention of ICDS in the budget is limited “ICDS platform is being expanded for effective implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent Girls” thus increasing the workload. The All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers strongly condemns the negligent attitude of the Congress led UPA government in allotting adequate funds to the ICDS, particularly the anganwadi employees. We call upon all the anganwadi employees in the country to join in thousands in the ‘Mahapadav” in last week of April in Delhi for, social security benefits, increase in honorarium to minimum wages and regularisation.

Land agitation will intensify: CPIM

The State secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala state committee,Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the land agitation launched under the aegis of Adivasi Kshema Samithi, a tribal organisation of CPI (M), for the landless tribal people in Wayanad district, will intensify with the support of all the working class organisations in the state.

Inaugurating a land agitation solidarity convention here on Saturday, Mr.Pinarayi assured his party’s full support to the cause.

Mr. Pinarayi said that the agitation started by the AKS in the district was not an encroachment on the private land but it was a struggle of the tribal people for claiming their rights over the land which had been illegally possessed by the wealthy land owners.

The resignation of the Janata Dal party leaders did not influence the CPI (M), he said.

Mr. Pinarayi said the tribal people claimed their right on the land by erecting huts as it was deserved for them and the land owner who possessed the land illegally was not ready to hand over the land to them.

The policy of the CPI (M) and the LDF government was to support the poor and working class people for their fair rights and protect the rights of the common people. No body had the right to posses the illegal property and the directives of the Kerala High Court also clarified it, he added.

When the first Communist party ministry in Kerala was trying to implement the Land Tenancy Act in the state, many affluent land owners tried to keep the excess land in their possession but the law was implemented only after the strong intervention of the people under the aegis of the Left parties.

Mr. Pinarayi said the allegations of the UDF leaders that the LDF government did not provide the land to the tribal people were baseless. Mr. Pinarayi claimed that a lot of policies had been successfully implemented by the LDF government for the welfare of the tribal people.

(Courtesy : The Hindu)