After the Opposition, now its own ally NCP has criticised the UPA Government for squeezing the poor by cutting down subsidies while doling out sops to rich corporates in the name of incentives.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia came under severe criticism at NCP youth wing’s National Convention inaugurated by party president and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday.
“While the FM is finding pleasure in squeezing the poor, he is happy to dole out sops to rich corporates. The concession to corporate world is also subsidies but it fondly called as incentives but for poor it is termed as burden,” stated the resolution adopted at the occasion.
It flayed the Finance Minister for cutting down subsidies and allocations for flagship projects like MGNREGA and NRHM, which affects purchasing power of the poor.
On the other hand, it chose the easier way of filling fiscal gap by selling shares, equities and assets of profit making Government and public sector companies at throwaway prices. “It is as wise as a person who sells his family treasure to pay the grocer bill,” according to the Nationalist Youth Congress. It also charged Ahluwalia for “laughing at poverty” by estimating that Rs 26 and Rs 32 respectively for rural and urban areas for a day living.
“It seems that those who are in the Government concern only a minuscule minority who reap the benefits of the economic growth. The last Budget presented by our Finance Minister is a glaring example of the above said trend,” it said.
The UPA Government has been charged with slowing down welfare schemes. It said that the inclusive growth has become limited to only those who are already reaping the benefit of the economic policies. Those sitting at the helm are obsessed with GDP growth and love to forget that 94 per cent of Indian population is outside the formal economy.
Sectors like agriculture, small manufacturing and small time traders have been punishingly sidelined for the benefit of economic growth. It also pointed out and said that by the planning commission’s own admission has been a jobless growth as two decades of economic growth has failed to create more jobs.
It said that tax net is shrinking, the tax-GDP ratio has fallen from 11.9 per cent in 2007-08 to below 10 per cent, the total amount of forgone taxes in 2012-13 Budget is 5,73,601 crore and the estimated fiscal deficit is Rs 5,20,925 crore which is 53,000 crore more than anticipated fiscal deficit.
“While creating few islands of riches and keeping vast majority away from all economic benefits, we are creating black holes of poverty, hunger, malfunction and illiteracy. These black holes can annihilate the islands of plenty in seconds,” it said and stressed the need for re-evaluating priorities to avoid such catastrophe.
“Unfortunately no such effort can be expected in the immediate future until and unless we make a re-alignment of political forces,” it said adding that Congress leadership do not have anything to offer to marginalised millions.
Pawar also condemned the brutal Naxal attack on Congress leaders on Chhattisgarh but said that Naxalism is not a law and order failure as economic reforms need to reach to the poor and marginalised people.