Budget (General)
Sir. I rise to
discuss the Budget 2011-12. The Economic Survey 2010-11 had anticipated
that the Indian economy would register growth of around 9 per cent,
plus or minus 0.25 per cent, in 2011-12, almost reverting to the
pre-crisis levels achieved during the three-year period, from 2005-06 to
2007-08. Now, the economy is expected to register a growth rate of 6.9
per cent in 2011-12 as per the Advance Estimates released by the Central
Statistics Office on 7th February, 2012. According to the Economic
Survey, a part of the reason for the slowdown lies in global factors,
particularly the crisis in the Euro zone area and near-recessionary
conditions prevailing in Europe, sluggish growth in many other
industrialized countries like the USA, stagnation in Japan and hardening
international prices of crude oil which always has a large effect on
India and, of course, also due to domestic factors. Ultimately, the
Survey suggested that there is need to be innovative in terms of policy.
But, the Finance Minister failed to spell the innovation in the
policies in the Budget.
At
sectoral level, growth is estimated to be 2.5 per cent for 2011- 12 for
agriculture and allied sectors as against 7 per cent achieved in
2010-11. This has to be seen against the backdrop of continuing losses
to farmers and farmers’ suicides. This is in spite of the fact that
India has the largest agricultural land area in the world. The country
is not able to encash this situation. China has lesser agriculture land
area than India and still it produces more agro products than India.
Productivity per acre is much more there than India. There are no
policies to protect the farmers and increase productivity in agriculture
and related areas including dairy. Whenever and wherever there is
higher production, the Government allows it to rot due to lack of
storage and transport facilities. The ultimate sufferer is the farmer
from any angle. The Finance Minister fails to address appropriately
innovative measures as spelt out in the Economic Survey.
The
hon. Finance Minister has said that the total agriculture credit for
2012-13 will be increased to Rs. 5,75,000 crore. It is surprising to
note that nothing much has benefited the farmers through this credit in
the previous years. There is a total flop of this scheme. There must be
some problem in the implementation. I am given to understand that not
even 50 per cent of the farmers are benefited by the credit. There is no
let-up to the farmers’ suicides.As a matter of fact, the farmers are
not looking for this kind of creditsor doles. They are expecting to have
some sustainable measures for supporting them. Today, I have read that
Bt. Cotton is one of the reasons for the suicides. It is not giving
proper yield, leading to losses to the farmers. This has been accepted
by the Union Government itself in a note to the States. There should be a
total review of the high yielding varieties. The Government should have
been focused on improving the efficiency in the agriculture sector.
In
regard to fuel prices, this Government has increased the petrol prices
several times during the last year. The Government should think of
balancing economy with fuel prices and the resultant growth. I do not
know what the Government is doing to increase the indigenous resources
so that India does not have to depend much on foreign imports. We are
still not doing anything on the renewable sources and there is no
imprint of the Finance Minister on this front.
Credibility is the next issue. Ever since the 2G Scam has been detected, this Government has lost credibility on all fronts.
Now
there is a plethora of scams being faced by this Government and the
latest being the coal mining scam involving a loss of Rs. ten lakh
crore. I do not want to comment on this latest scam as the final report
of the CAG is yet to come. Because of the scams, it appears that the
Government is in inertia and the leadership is weak.
The
Economic Survey projected fiscal deficit to fall to 4.5 per cent in
2011 and 4.1 per cent in 2012. But I would like to mention that the
total deficit of the Centre and the States crosses nine per cent. India
being a developing economy, with around 50 per cent people below the
poverty line, how can the country withstand the deficit while taking
welfare measures? Here comes the role of innovative measures as spelt
out by the Economic Survey.
Health
is another important indicator of human development. People largely
remain outside the public health facilities as the quality of services
in government hospitals has not improved. People mostly depend on
private healthcare providers. But what about the BPL families? I am
given to understand that the so-called middle-class families sell their
properties for treatment. But there is no answer to this
from the Finance Minister. The expenditure on health increased from
1.25 per cent in 2006-07 to only 1.30 per cent in 2011-12. The total
budget for the Health Ministry during 2012-13 is Rs.30,700 crore as
against Rs.25,250 crore last year. The marginal increase is not going to
make significant improvement in the health infrastructure. The NRHM
Scheme started by the Government is fraught with several flaws and is
infested by corruption and scams. Special budgetary provision is
necessary to be provided as a one-time measure for overall improvement
in the health infrastructure. This has never happened so far. Unless
people are healthy, how can they work, earn and survive? The Finance
Minister should have focused more on improving sustainable growth and
sustainable measures in agriculture, healthcare and education. He is
completely silent on it and there is no comment on these issues. With
this, I oppose the Budget. Thank you, Sir.
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