February 9, 2023
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s speech on February 9, 2023 in the Lok Sabha during the General Discussion on the Union Budget for 2023-23
Thank you, hon. Chairman Sir. I also thank All India Trinamool Congress for allowing me to speak today. I seek your intervention and protection from the heckling that has been going on. Right from yesterday, I have been watching that whenever the Opposition speaks, there is heckling going on from the Treasury Benches. So, I seek your indulgence for 10 minutes, not more than that. I oppose this totally opportunistic and anti-people Budget. This Budget comes with its ‘Saptarishi’ value system including inclusive development reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power, and financial sector. This seems like a lot of lofty claims without any substance in it. Strangely, not one sentence has been spoken by the hon. Finance Minister, being herself a lady, encouraging proposals for the women of the country except the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihood Mission. Even the self-help groups are actually organised by the State Governments, not by the Central Government. Besides the mundane ones, one would have expected ‘out of the box’ schemes for emancipation and economic empowerment of women including the urban poor students. This actually regrettably neglects 50 per cent of the population, the adhi abadi, leaving them outside the effective work force in nation building. So, this Budget cannot be termed as inclusive, nor can it be termed as “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”. In contrast, it is prudent to draw your attention to schemes like Kanyashree, Rupashree, Lakshmir Bhandar conceptualised and implemented by the hon. Chief Minister of West Bengal Smt. Mamata Banerjee which is taking the women of West Bengal forward. A woman empowered is two generations empowered:not only her generation, even her children. So, I appeal to the hon. Finance Minister for sufficient fund allocation for reproductive healthcare of women, menstrual healthcare of women, subsidy for their education, for their educational loans, tax benefits, and for help towards entrepreneurship of women. Thousands of posts are lying vacant. But there is not a word about employment for the unemployed youth. A new Data Governance regime is being talked about, but if we go by the trajectory of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, this could be another attempt to obscure data protection in the country. Considering the fact that this was actually the last Budget before we go into polls in 2024, this looks more like an appeasement towards the middle class. Of course, the tax benefit given is welcome and appreciable, but already when the Reserve Bank has raised the repo rate by 25 basispoints, theonus is coming to the middle class as far as the home loan or car loan is concerned. That is going to be higher by 6.5 per cent. We have 3.7 crore unemployed youths in India, but not a word has been spoken about them. Let us make it clear that the mere rebate of Rs. 50,000 for the lower limit of taxable income is no relief for the middle class. It is more like a drop in the ocean. While the tax slab reduction has been announced, nothing has been said about unemployment, about cost of petrol and diesel which is really telling on the purse of the middle class and the lower middle-class people, and the debt the country has on it. We saw a huge cut in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in the Union Budget this time. In the Union Budget, there is a provision of Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA which is the lowest in many years. It is a 33 per cent cut, as compared to the Revised Estimates of the current fiscal. In this year’s Budget, food subsidy has been reduced. In the coming days, the poor will be suffering the most. Meanwhile, the Bengal Government provides ration free of cost at the doorstep of the poor people through the ‘Duare Ration’ scheme. So, we call our Government for the people, by the people, and of the people. Let the Central Government also be for the people, by the people, and of the people as far as the constitutional promises go. The Union Budget has promised that there will be a reduction of price in the cooking gas, the LPG. At the moment, we have to pay Rs.1,170 for a gas cylinder. There has been a hike of Rs.70 per cylinder and a subsidised reduction of Rs.4 in the price of a cylinder. Who are they trying to fool? Under Ujjwala Yojana, it has been claimed that so many lakhs of women were given LPG connections. It is a welcome move, and we thought that women are going to be relieved of smoke. But they do not have money to refill the cylinder. They could make use of the cylinder which was given free but now they do not have money to refill it. Money should be given in the hands of the poor people by directly transferring funds into their accounts so that the economy can take off. After the pandemic, the economy is actually dying. For the market to thrive, more funds should be made available to the poor people. We have, time and again, stated that there is a need to debate the dismantling of cooperative federalism. But, as usual, the Centre has conveniently neglected the issue in this Budget as well. The tax exemption is only a smoke-screen to cover the Government’s monumental failures in addressing the increasing unemployment and inflation along with the concerns for the poor. What has the Centre done for the Self Help Groups, the ASHAs and the ICDS workers? They are finding it very difficult to make ends meet. For the farmers, the Minimum Support Price has not been talked about. The promise with regard to enhancement of the farmers’ income has not been fulfilled. As far as the medical research possibilities are concerned, there is a proposal for research with ICMR, which is a very welcome move. But I would like to draw the attention of the hon. Minister to the fact that there is a high economic burden of diabetes in the country. It can also be said that India is the Diabetes Capital of the world. Nothing has been said about it in the Budget. We would request the Government to create awareness or consciousness of the scare that people are getting of diabetes, and guide the people properly so that diabetes does not become another killer disease. It affects eyes, kidney, and heart. We should allot more money to take care of this disease. In this Budget, India’s economic growth is forecast, and also as per the Economic Survey, to be 7 per cent in contrast to 8.7 per cent of the last fiscal. This seems to be a hastily prepared, mindless document with no plan for employment generation, and no relief for farmers, daily earners, and women. So, I would like to draw the attention of the hon. Minister to these facts. Thank you.
