December 16, 2024
Sougata Ray’s speech on the Supplementary Demands for Grants – First Batch for 2024-2025
Sir, I rise to speak on the Supplementary Demands for Grants. It is unfortunate that the Finance Minister is not there. But still, I have some points to make. I shall be brief. Ms. Sayani Ghosh will speak on the other points The Supplementary Demands have been brought under Articles 114(1), 115 and 217 of the Constitution. There is nothing to oppose the Supplementary Demands for Grants because the money has already been spent. The Government is asking for an Appropriation of the extra amount spent. What is the extra amount? It is Rs. 87,000 crore roughly. Out of this Rs. 87,000 crore, Rs. 44,000 crore is the outgo, and the rest will be met by savings from the Government’s expenditure. So, where is this Rs. 44,000 crore going? Out of it, Rs. 9,692 crore will go towards PM-KISAN; Rs. 9,500 crore for rural telecom connectivity; Rs. 6,500 crore for fertilizer subsidy; and Rs. 4000 crore for Defence services. Now, the problem with the Supplementary Demands for Grants is that if you spend more money, then you push up the Government’s financial deficit target. The Government has set a target of 4.9 per cent. Now, these Supplementary Demands will push up the financial deficit. The only way for the Government will be to reduce its spending on infrastructure. This Government is caught in a pincer movement. What is the reason? The reason is that they are not being able to decide whether to go for growth or to go for controlling the inflation. There was a dispute between the Finance Minister and the Governor of Reserve Bank, Shri Shaktikanta Das. The Reserve Bank wanted to keep the repo rate stable, whereas the Finance Minister was pressing for reducing the repo rate so that more money could go to the economy. Ultimately, the Governor of the Reserve Bank had to leave. Now, there is a typical crisis in the whole economy. The crisis is that our growth projections for the last quarter have slipped to 5.4 per cent. This is very damaging to the economy. How does the Government make up for this slip in the economy? Unless the economic growth rate comes up, the country cannot progress. And this is a sharp slowdown. The main slowdown has been in the manufacturing sector, which has expanded to only 2.2 per cent this year. Now, to sustain higher growth, you need more private investments. To have more private investments, you have to spend more on infrastructure. If you spend more on infrastructure, inflation will go up. So, this is a double whammy that the Government is caught in. Prime Minister Mr. Modi made a two-hour speech. It was like a speech to a school collection but he did not touch upon these basic problems of growth. And now, we will have more problems because one of our strong points was exports. With Donald Trump as American President, exports will be curtailed because he will impose more tariffs. So, where do we go from here? I have no objection to allowing the Finance Minister to have Supplementary Demands. But what is her answer to this basic question facing the Indian economy — growth or control of inflation? Inflation has also showed an upward trend. It has gone up to 6.2 per cent. So, if inflation increases, then who is put to difficulty? The middle-class people will be put to difficulties. That is what is happening. This Government has patronised the big industry. Now, I saw a figure that the profits of the big industries — as seen in the names of Tata, Reliance and Adani — have gone up. How? Post-Covid, the tax profits of companies listed in stock exchange has risen to 5.2 per cent of GDP. It is only profit. Compared to this, the share of employee compensation has been coming down. So, the profits of industrialists and capitalist are increasing and the salaries of the middle-classes and working classes are coming down. So, one newspaper has headline – profits move but pay is far from fair. So, this is the situation in the Indian economy. Everybody is saying that this is good for growth. The Finance Minister is here. Maybe she will reply. Earlier, I had commented on her of not having a foreign degree. I am withdrawing that comment. But it would have been good if the Finance Minister was an economist from an Indian University. She will be able to tackle the problem in which the Indian economy is caught – growth or control of inflation. At this rate of growth of 5.2 per cent in the last quarter, Indian economy cannot make progress. I say all this because I have many other demands to make before the Finance Minister. We come from the State of West Bengal which has been deprived of Rs. 22,000 crore in the NREGA funds. We have been deprived of Rs. 2,500 crore on account of PMAWAS Yojana. But I am not here to speak on West Bengal demands only. I am speaking on the economy as a whole. The economy is not in a fair shape. So, why will you allow the Finance Minister to go away with these supplementary demands in her kitty? If you see the Supplementary Demands for Grants, out of Rs. 87,000 crore, only Rs. 19,000 crore is the capital expenditure. The rest is the revenue expenditure. So, on the one hand, unless you invest in capital expenditure and infrastructure, private investments will not come. Adani’s and Ambani’s depend on the Government to provide the infrastructure so that they can make more profits. So, all these problems in the Indian economy need to be considered. I do not see anybody in the Ministry or in the Government, who can really tackle such a problem. It would have needed Manmohan Singh to tackle this problem. More advantages to the poorer sections have to be given. Sir, I do not want to prolong my speech further. The economy is hamstrung by lack of policy; by lack of clarity and the economy cannot go on with the Prime Minister’s speeches only. Lastly, Mr. Venugopal has spoken about asking for a JPC Inquiry against the working of SEBI and its complicity in manipulating the shares of the Adani group. While not emphasising on that, I, in general support, his demand. … Let him come. But let him not manipulate the share market. If he manipulates the share market, then he shall be driven out of India ultimately as he is being driven out of US. Thank you, Sir.
