The government seeks to stimulate the economy by giving concessions to the rich even as expenditures are cut, they claim
Abdul Bari Masoud | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Terming the Union Budget as a betrayal of the immediate and basic requirements of the people, all the five Left parties on Monday decided to launch a mass campaign for the inclusion of pro-poor proposals in the new financial year allocations.
They said that the Union Budget completely neglected the issue of unemployment and expenditure on food subsidies, agriculture and allied activities, education, health, rural development, social welfare and urban development while providing a bonanza to the corporate sector and the super-rich.
The mass campaign decision was taken at a meeting of leaders of the Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc which met on Monday to discuss the budgetary provisions.
The Left leaders underlined that instead of addressing the problem of demand in the economy due to the lack of purchasing power of the people, mass unemployment and shrinking wages, the Narendra Modi government has, through the Budget, sought to stimulate the economy by giving concessions to the rich even as expenditures are cut.
The government, they said, has opted to do the exact opposite of raising funds by taxing the wealthy and large corporations and increasing public investments that would help create jobs and guarantee a minimum wage for all. By encouraging private investment, putting public assets at the disposal of the private sector, privatising the electricity industry, and other measures, the budget encourages a higher accumulation of wealth, they pointed out.
Additionally, the Left leaders claimed that the government was still ignoring issues like unemployment, food subsidies, agriculture and related activities, health, education, rural development, social welfare, and urban development. If inflation is taken into account, the new budget’s expenditures on these problems are either unchanged from the previous year or less than they were.
One stark example is MNREGA. Its allocation remained stagnant at Rs 86,000 crore, even as the demand has grown. A portion of the population has benefited from the increase in the income tax exemption limit to Rs 12 lakhs, while many people facing inflation and indirect taxes like GST have been left out. Raising the tax rates on corporations and the wealthier segments would have made up for the loss incurred by upping the tax exemption threshold. However, the government has decided not to, instead giving the super-rich and business sector a blitz, the Left leaders said.
Rejecting all the anti-people proposals in the Budget, the left leaders resolved to demand that they be replaced by the following alternative proposals, which can help to create demand by increasing the purchasing power of the people, generating employment opportunities and raising wages.
The leaders want the introduction of the following proposals:
1) Wealth tax of 4 per cent on the 200 billionaires (in dollar terms) in the country; increase corporation tax.
2) A Legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price for agricultural produce and the withdrawal of the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing.
3) Halting the privatisation of public sector units and handing over public assets to the private sector through the National Monetisation Pipeline. Withdrawing 100 percent of FDI in the insurance sector.
4) An increase in MGNREGA allocation by 50 percent; Urban Employment Guarantee Act; increasing the Centre’s provision for old-age pensions and other social security benefits.
5) Increase in the outlays for health to 3 percent of GDP and education to 6 percent of GDP.
6) Increasing food subsidies to strengthen the public distribution system.
7) Increasing allocation for SC, ST sector and for women and child development substantially, including increased outlay for ICDS; increase the Central share of the honorarium for scheme workers; and
8) Substantial increase in the transfers of funds to the states and funds for Centrally-sponsored schemes. Scrap the cesses and surcharges on petroleum products which are not included in the divisible pool for sharing with states.
They believed that the above alternative proposals would help to ensure the right of people to education, health and social security benefits.
The Left parties will campaign for the inclusion of the above demands and proposals in the Union Budget before it is finally adopted through the Finance Bill.
The leaders said the Left parties will conduct a week-long mass campaign from February 14 to 20. The state units of the Left parties will devise plans to reach the maximum number of people through door-to-door campaigns, street corner meetings, demonstrations, and rallies.