29.02.
Union Budget 2016 – 17 presented by the
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is nothing but a grand exercise in rhetoric
totally devoid of anything substantial that provides relief to the common
people and workers. The Finance Minister sought to camouflage his government’s
drive to provide further benefits to the corporate sector by resorting to high
sounding words. Given the continuing global economic volatility and
vulnerability in the capitalist system, the figures of GDP, Current Account
Deficit and fiscal deficit are subject to many internal and external factors
and have to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Instead of proposing effective measures
to address the burning issue of price rise, the Finance Minister pats himself
on the back claiming that inflation has come down even when the daily
experience of the people is otherwise. Attempts to address unemployment by
opening of skill development centres, when hundreds of thousands of our
educated and skilled youth do not find suitable and decent jobs do not make any
sense. While the ban on recruitment in government continues and thousands of
jobs are being lost across many industries, in the Finance Minster ridiculously
hopes of generating employment by paying the employers’ share of provident fund
for three years.
The Union Budget sounds the death knell
for the public sector, proposing disposal of assets of public sector
undertakings including land, in addition to disinvestment of shares. The name
of the Department of Disinvestment is being deceptively changed to Department
of Investment and Public Asset Management. The upstream oil sector has been
further widened for private sector, both domestic and foreign. Huge concessions
have been made to prospective private oil corporates. Public sector general insurance
will be disinvested. 100% FDI is proposed in marketing food products produced
in India.
The Motor Vehicle Act is going to be
amended opening up passenger transport to private parties resulting in the
death of the state public road transport corporations. The Health Protection
scheme announced in the Budget only indicates that the government is
withdrawing itself from its responsibility of providing universal health
coverage and moving towards health insurance that would mainly benefit the
insurance companies.
While the announcement to speed up rural
electrification is laudable, the fact is that today around 1 lakh mega watt
power generation capacity is lying idle due to the high cost of electricity.
Merely providing electric connections is not going to help unless electricity
tariffs are brought down and the purchasing capacity of people is increased.
Rather than taking strong action to
recover the alarming amounts of defaults by big corporate houses to public
sector banks, the government has provided for recapitalisation of public sector
banks to brush up their balance sheets, thus setting the defaulters go scot -
free.
While the Finance Minister talked of
reduction in corporate taxes there is no enhancement of income tax slabs
adversely affecting the lakhs of central and state government and public sector
employees. On the other hand, workers’ life long savings in Provident Fund are
being taxed.
The revenue loss due to reduction in
direct taxes is to the tune of Rs 1060 crores while an additional burden of Rs
20670 crores has been imposed on common people through indirect taxes.
The allocation to agriculture and farmer
welfare is too meagre to address the serious agrarian crisis that has seen an
increase in farmer suicides. It amounts to just eye wash.
The government has again neglected the
unorganised workers and the scheme workers in this Budget. Despite the
consistent demand of the united trade union movement to constitute national
fund for providing social security benefits for the unorganised workers and to
recognise the lakhs of anganwadi employees, ASHAs, midday meal workers, NCLP
staff and other sections of scheme workers as workers and provide them minimum
wages and social security benefits, this Budget totally ignores these demands.
While none of the points raised by the central trade unions in the pre budget
meeting have been addressed, the government generously accepted the demands of
the employers. The Budget does away with the mandatory weekly holidays in shops
and other commercial establishments thus denying the tens of lakhs of shop
employees of their holidays and increasing their working hours.
On the whole this Union Budget once
again proves the commitment of this BJP led government to the neoliberal agenda
and its eagerness to satisfy its corporate and big business bosses at the cost
of the workers and common people.
Issued by,
TAPAN SEN
General Secretary
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