Parliament – Page 47 – All India Trinamool Congress

Sukhendu Sekhar Ray speaks during discussion on Budget (General) 2015-2016 | Transcript

Posted on March 18, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, Jab hum is Budget ki or nazar dalte hai toh pehle paragraph teen me adarniya Mantri ji ne bahut achhe dhang se ek kavita sunai. Unhone sunai ki – “Kuch toh phul khilaye humne aur kuch phool khilne hai.” Bahut achhi kavita hai. Toh mujhe yeh kavita sunte hue Md Rafi sahab ki ek purani geet bhi yaad aagayi – “ki baharo phul barsao mera mehoob aya hai, mera mehoob aya hai.”

Toh yeh Budget aam janta ki mehooba bankar ayi hai ki nahi so toh dekhna hai. Na toh me arthashastra hu na me arthashastra samajhta hun.

So Hon’ble Members mujhe maaf kar dena agar maine kuch galat bol diya toh. Mujhe lagta hai ki yeh jo Budget hai yeh ek kahani hai – ek kahani hai toofan aur diye ki. Isse woh bole toofan macha degi aur bechari aam janta ki asha ke diye jo abhi bhi jal rahi hai woh kahin bujh toh nahi jayegi? Yeh sawal paida hota hai.

Sir, the Babus of North Block have done a remarkable jugglery of statistics and I shall come to that one after another.

First of all at the outset, I would like to show how the jugglery has been done. Taken at face-value, because much has been talked about GDP growth. The story of growth is the inbuilt story of every Budget and this Budget is no exception to that. So taken at face value, the Indian economy will grow by 7.4% this fiscal year outpacing China from the world’s fastest growing economy but a revision in the method of calculation has left analysts and Government’s own chief economic advisors doubting how far the data can be trusted.

The GDP growth in 2010-11 was calculated based on factor cost which has now has been changed to constant prices to take into account gross value addition in goods and services as well as indirect taxes. Besides the base year has been shifted to 2011-12 from 2004-2005 earlier.

Sir, the Statistics Ministry takes the previous years’ growth at 6.9% as against 4.7% estimated previously, a revision which led to some economists including RBI Governor Sri Raghuram Rajan seeking more clarity and the RBI Governor is on record saying that we do need to spend more time to understand the GDP numbers. So, here the jugglery starts.

Now Sir, the story of financial empowerment of the states. I need not say anything on this because of my little knowledge in economics. However, I may quote the opinion of a former Finance Minister of India. I quote the opinion of a former Finance Minister which was published in The Hindu newspaper on the 3 of this month which inter alia states and I quote,

“The Finance Commission’s recommendations on raising the shares of states in the divisive pool of central taxes from 32% to 42% have been cleverly managed. The states’ share in absolute numbers, budget estimates to budget estimates (from current year to next year’s budget) has gone up from this year to the next by around Rs 1.36 Lakh Crore.

The Central Plan Assistance to the States has gone down from Rs 338000 Crore to Rs 205000 Crore. Therefore the two cancel each other out.

Sir, he continues, “Thus, the net additional central resources transferred to the States including States’ share of taxes and duties, non plan grants and loans, central assistance to State Plans, assistance to centrally sponsored schemes is only Rs 64000 Crore in 2015-16.”

Only Rs 64000 Crore is to be distributed among the 29 States and 7 UTs. This is the state of affairs that has been projected by the former Finance Minister of India. Sir, if I say the name, the Hon’ble Minister of State, Finance, who is sitting in the House, may be embarrassed, so I am not taking the name. One should understand that who said this.

Much drum has been beaten on the question of special assistance. The drum beating started before the Budget was placed in the other House. They said that special assistance has been given to West Bengal and Bihar, my friends from Bihar must listen to me, because they are our neighbours. Nothing is visible in this Budget Speech. Sir, nothing is being said in the Budget Speech about the type of special package that is to be given to Bihar and West Bengal. Later, the Finance Minister clarified that the special assistance was not in terms of money but it would be some incentives in the form of tax exemptions to the investors, provided that the investors go into Bihar and West Bengal and invest in the manufacturing sector. That is the special package to the Bihar and West Bengal; no other states should be envious about West Bengal getting a special package. Sir, this is also the story of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.

Sir, I would like to refer to the Volume I of the Report of the Finance Commission, published in 2014. At page 89, paragraph 8.10, Finance Commission while making its recommendations, they decided what they have observed, related issue in the assistance of vertical imbalances is the issue of non divisible pool of recourses namely cess and surcharges. The 1^stline of this paragraph says, “That the share of cess and surcharges of the Gross Tax Revenue of the Union Government has increased from 7.53% in 2000-2001 and to 13.14% in 2013-2014. The cess and surcharge collected by the Central Government has almost doubled compared to the year 2000-2001. The States have argued that; this denies the States of their rightful share in the devolution.”

The observation of the Finance Commission is that, “Earlier successive Finance Commissions have recommended that Union Government review the current position with respect to the non divisive pool arising out of cess and surcharges and take measure to reduce their share in the Gross Tax Revenue. However, this has not happened. There are two ways of addressing this legitimate concern of the State. What are the two ways to address the concern of the States? One is an Amendment in the Constitution to include these in the divisive pools or increase the share of divisive pools to compensate the States on this account. We rule the first option, given the experience so far.”

Although the successive Finance Commission has recommended this, but the State Government remained a mute spectator to the report, they did not move an inch ahead to implement the recommendations of the successive Finance Commission. The 14^th Finance Commission has said that the Amendment to the Constitution is a distant possibility now.

This Government has come up with so many amendments to the Constitution. Why not introduce another amendment to the Constitution, so that cess and surcharge are also included in the divisive pool?

This is a question, I would like to raise in the House.

Budget estimated of 2014 – 2015 and 2015 – 2016 shows that net resources transferred to states and union territories has increased by Rs 63997 Crore which is only 1.5% of the Centre’s Gross Tax Revenue whereas Centre’s share of category B and C schemes will come down to Rs. 66233 Crore. Therefore, on one hand the states are getting Rs 63997 Crore of the central gross tax revenue and on the other the B category and C category of the schemes of the Central Government will now come down to Rs 66233 Crore therefore the net loss for the states compared to previous years will be Rs 2226 crore during the 2015 – 2016 Financial Year.

Sir, if the states have to sustain the BRFG program and other smaller schemes, this budget has not provided a single paisa for those schemes. All the expenses shall have to be borne by the states only. This is how the story of Centre’s cash paid to states show only on papers.

Now Sir, I would like to mention about the allocation to various schemes, many Hon’ble members have mentioned about that, maybe some repetitions are there but I cannot but mention some of them. On a quick look as to how the allocations in different schemes have been slashed shows that the allocation for welfare of the scheduled castes have come down to Rs 30851 Crore in 2015 – 2016 compared to Rs 43,208 Crore in 2014 – 2015, that is about Rs 13000 Crore reduction. What about tribal welfare? It has come down to Rs 19980 Crore in 2015 – 2016 from Rs 26700 Crore in 2014 – 2015. That is almost Rs 8000 Crore less than the previous year for tribal welfare.

Sir, reduction of allocation during the coming fiscal compared to previous year in regard to ICDS and mid-day meal scheme, my good friend Pavan Verma as already mentioned and left, that has come down by half from over Rs 16000 Crore to just Rs 8000 Crore in 2015 – 2016, so this is the Government’s plan for ICDS and mid-day meal. This is the plan of the Government for women welfare and child welfare.

Sir, the budgetary allocation for housing and poverty alleviation has been reduced from Rs 6008 Crore in the previous year to Rs 5634 Crore in the current budget. Budgetary allocation for the tribal has been cut by Rs 5000 Crore as I already mentioned. Budget for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been reduced by 9.5%. The much touted Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao get only Rs 100 Crore . I wonder whether this is a budget of the Central Government or the Zilla Panchayat. I cannot understand that only Rs 100 Crore has been allocated for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao! Much trumpeting was done. And what has my State made? West Bengal led by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Smt Mamata Banerjee, the State Government has allocated Rs 850 Crore for Kanyashree project which has been acclaimed and accepted even by the United Nations.

Even yesterday, the Hon’ble Minister Maneka ji was praising the Kanyashree project like anything in her reply to the issue of women and child development; she is also present here. So, this is the state of the Central Government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, kaise bachegi? Kaise padhegi? Sau Crore sarae desh me? Malum nahi.

The symbolic increase in the allocation for MGNREGA will make the survival struggle of the poor people more painful. In the context of galloping inflation.

Sir, all of us know that Millennium Development Report of 2014 of the United Nations; and I repeat again and again, whenever I get a chance that India is a land where the world’s one third poorest of the poor live, and their number is 40 Crore , which is also one third of our population. What is in this budget for those 40 Crore people?

No answer, no mention, not a single word has been attributed by the Central Government in the Union Budget. This is a shame on the part of the Central Government I must say.

Sir, however, now it is important, the Hon’ble Finance Minister has assured that he will allocate additional Rs 5,000 Crore to MGNREGA only if, there are some ifs and buts so only if there is an increase in revenue receipt. So we have to wait. Only if, there is increase in revenue receipt then Hon’ble Finance Minister will allocate. This is the position.

Sir, Bangali me ek kahawat hai – saat mon tell o purbe na, radha o nachbe na aur usi ko mai Hindi me kehta hu – na toh girdhar ki murli bajegi na madhuban me radhika nachegi. Aisa prabandh kiya gaya.

Allocation to education sector has been reduced by Rs 32,912 Crore and the housing schemes for poor reduced by Rs 14,887 Crore as well as in this Budget.

These are the achievements of this Government. BJP ka koi mitra yeha bol rahe the, bahut safalta mil gai, kasi amrit pila ja raha hai, yeh toh samundar ka manthan ho raha hai. Yeh devta ban gaye hai aur isliye amrit pan kar rahe hai toh halahal kaun pan karega? Halahal toh aam janta ko hi paan karne parega. Yeh samundar manthan ho rahe hai yeha.

In our childhood we were taught that health is wealth but this Budget does not approve that is why the health allocation in this Budget has been reduced by Rs 2011 Crore that is 5.7% reduction where as my Government, my State Government, Mamata Banerjee’s Government has raised the health allocation by 16.91% in this year’s Budget. Sir, a State can do it but Centre cannot do it. Centre is only reducing, reducing and reducing.

Sir, Gandhi ji once said that India lives in villages and therefore villagers primary relief on agriculture, yeh sarkar kisano ka sarkar hai, yeh sarkar garibo ka sarkar hai, aise bhasan hum bahut sune chunao ke pehle. Jitne garib hai, jitney kisan hai hamare pass a jayo, hum tumko sahi raste pe le jayenge – bataya gaya tha. Abhi keya achhe din aye hai – abh kya dekh rahe hai Budget me, yeh sarkar krishi kshetro me amantan jo ki 2014-15 me 9.5% the ghatakar is bitta barsh me matlab ane wale bitta barsh me 2.7% kar diya hai. Krishi Kshetro me bhi ghata diya aur yeh bolta hai ki hum kisaan ki sarkar hai, garibo ki sarkar hai.

Notwithstanding the fact, that this will severely hurt the rural Indians and also lead to a decline in agricultural growth, Agricultural growth ghat jayega, thak jayega koi soch vichar nehi hai. Corporate, Corporate, Corporate chilla rahe hai.

Even the ruling party has forgotten its election manifesto. Do bullet point election manifesto se mai refer karna chahata hu – Election Manifesto of BJP party is a tall promise that it would increase public investment in agriculture and would also enhance profitability in agriculture by ensuring atleast 50% profit over cost of production. Aur isiliye agricultural allocation ko is tarah ghata diya gaya, taki unka Election Manifesto puri ho. Election Manifesto ki puri hone ka rasta hai?

Sir, atleast seven schemes in agriculture sector, due to paucity of time I cannot show them, atleast seven schemes in the agricultural sector have got arbitrarily reduced. The allocation has been arbitrarily reduced.

Sir, allocation for National Food Security Mission has been reduced from Rs 18,304 Crore in 2014-15 to Rs 13,000 Crore for 2015-16. So this Government wants to secure food for the poor people this is why the allocation has been reduced. Global Hunger index has already mentioned the situation in India is alarming, the budgetary allocation made in the food subsidy could have been higher for eradication of hunger and malnutrition. The Government has taken an opposite route. The Hon’ble Finance Minister, even for once has not uttered in his Budget Speech about the Government’s concern about food security. Nowhere in the speech, has he mentioned about food security. The earlier Government, I must say, tried to ensure and implement.

It is clear from the Budget Speech of the Hon’ble Finance Minister that the Government is more inclined to corporate welfare, by slashing Corporate Tax. Apart from this, the Government revenue forgone in form of incentives and exemption to the corporate in the current fiscal is estimated to go over Rs 62,398 Crore and the beneficiaries will only be the corporate who are microscopic minorities among the 125 Crore population of the country. All though, Hon’ble Finance Minister has claimed that humare Sarkar corporate ki bhi hai, aam janta ki bhi hai, leken meinne jo aankra dekhaya woh Budget se nikal ke, woh sare akhre garib o ke khilaf hai, kisan o ke khilaf hai aur corporate ka paksh mein hai. Iye Sarkar corporate ka Sarkar hai. yeh Sarkar corporate ki nirdesh par chalti hai. Aur yehi natija hai ki, Budget mein aisa reflection aya hai.

Sir, Shri Arun Jaitley Ji, I respect him; everyone respects him, sara Hindustan uska bahut izzat karte hai. He belongs to my biradari. Shri Arun Jaitley Ji is not here. If I remember correctly, subject to corrections when he was a Leader of Opposition he said, IT exemptions should be to the limit of Rs 5 lakh. How much exemption has he granted in this year’s Budget? I need not elaborate. There is no room for the middle class to rejoice of the Budget.

Another important point is Sir, the implementation of GAAR, General Anti Avoidance Rules. We have heard enough of it for a number of times over the number of years. I have been putting questions, year after year, what about the implementation of GAAR. The former Finance Minister in his Budget Speech has said, that it will be implemented from 1 April, 2015. Now, in this year it is said that GAAR will be deferred for two years. I do not know, whether it is deferred indefinitely. I would like to quote a reply from a question I had put earlier. The one line reply was, GAAR will be applicable to the financial income of 2015-16 (Assessment Year: 2016-17) and subsequent years. This is the answer the Finance Minister has given to me for the question number 3364 on 23 December, 2014. What happened between the two months so that it is not deferred by two years of for an indefinite period?

Sir, on the conclusion, that on a final analysis I must say that this Budget is anti people, full of rhetoric, jugglery of statistics, and it appears to me that the same has been drafted by a fortune teller and reminds me of Oscar Wilde who once said, “Someone, who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Yeh Budget shayad humko bol rahi hai ki tum apne soch ki jangal me raha bhatko, aur phir kho jao, aur phir so jao.

Thank you.

Women Empowerment – Trinamool shows the way in Parliament

Posted on March 17, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Congress is the only political party which has acted for the empowerment of women in the country. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which is still pending in Parliament, proposes to amend the Constitution of India to reserve 33% of all seats in the Lower house of Parliament of India, the Lok Sabha, and in all State Legislative Assemblies for women.

Trinamool Congress now has 13 women MPs in the Parliament with Dola Sen being added to the list as the first Trinamool woman MP in Rajya Sabha.

12 out of the 34 newly-elected Trinamool MPs in Lok Sabha are women, which constitutes about 35.2% of TMC MPs.

Trinamool Congress has the highest percentage of women MPs in the house. The 16th Lok Sabha has only 65 women members which is around 11%.

While others only talk of women empowerment, Trinamool’s actions speak louder than words.

Sugata Bose speaks during discussion on Budget (General) 2015-2016 | Transcript

Posted on March 17, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Madam, I hope my good friend Jayant Sinha has told the Hon’ble Finance Minister, how much he was missed last Friday and how eagerly we have been awaiting his return from the UK. We recognise he had gone there for a historic occasion.

We cannot forget and even we are prepared to forgive what Winston Churchill had said about Mahatma Gandhi in 1931. It was a very proud moment for all Indians to see our Finance Minister standing next to the current Conservative Prime Minister of Britain as he paid tribute to the Father of our Nation, the man whom Churchill had described as a fakir and whose simple attire he had mocked, stands tall today in London’s Parliament Square.

Mr Arun Jaitley, who is yet to arrive in the House, has a charming old world quality about him. I am reminded of the 1980s whenever he pronounces on economic matters, which he invariably does with great conviction. I had spent that unfortunate decade in Thatcher’s Britain and Regan’s America. Mr Jaitley still clings to reignite dogma. believing that the tax cuts of the rich will somehow spur economic growth.

The best research in economics in the last three decades exploded that myth. The Finance Minister has issued a promissory note, regarding the lowering of the corporate tax rate from 30% to 25% and abolished the wealth tax.

My esteemed colleague Mr Saugata Roy has already pointed out that it requires no financial wizardry, to figure out his shift from direct taxes to indirect taxes is highly regressive.

I am glad that our Finance Minister has become less dogmatic in one respect namely in his tendency to fetishize the need to reduce the fiscal deficit at a fast pace. His right to have given himself more time, three years rather than two, in his effort to draw down the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP.

The Prime Minister must have whispered in his ear, I have recently visited Japan and seeing the wonders of Abenomics which is better than Reganomic. Our economy needs the stimulus of greater public spending, particularly in social sectors to quicken the pace of growth rather than any unnecessary tightening of the fiscal belt.

I would urge the Finance Minister not to worry too much about the fiscal deficit, so long as he can bring it down below the 4% mark next year and then steadily move towards his target. Has the Finance Minister truly embraced the States as equal partners in the country’s developments, as he claimed? Despite the rhetoric about cooperative federalism, the record here is decidedly mixed. The marginal increase in the state’s share of revenue resources has come courtesy of the Finance Commission, not through the largess of this Government.

We are glad that the proceeds of the Coal Auctions will benefit the resource-rich yet poverty-stricken Easter states and there are one or two incentives tucked away in the Budget that might help attract fresh investments to the states. Yet the abolition of the Planning Commission does not board well for the future of federalism. The Chief Ministers Conclave under the aegis of the newfangled NITI Ayog can aspire to be no more than a talking shop. The key economic decisions regarding allocations are being centralised under the Finance Ministry.

I do not doubt the sincerity of the Finance Minister’s wish, for his Government to be intellectually honest. Yet, the talks about federalism and acts to centralise, speaks of humility and behaves arrogantly.

Our commitments to farmers run deep, the Finance Minister claimed in his Budget Speech. It runs so deep that the Government has railroaded the Land Acquisition Bill through the Lok Sabha that does away the need to take consent of the farmers while looting their fertile, even multicrop lands to gift away to its corporate friends.

What is Jan Dhan, Madam Speaker? The Government is proud of their Jan Dhan Yojana that has created over 12 Crore bank accounts, mostly zero balance bank accounts. Yet, feels no shame in taking away Jan Dhan, which in India’s villages mostly takes the form of small parcels of land of peasants.

Speaking on the Budget last year, I had said that our future developments has to be built on three pillars: Infrastructure, Education and Health. I commend the Finance Minister once more for committing public funds to infrastructure projects even though the funds may clogged up if the infrastructure projects are not implemented fast.

I must express my deep disappointment again at the utter neglect of education, especially school education and public health. Spending on flagship projects on education like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has suffered severe cuts. The ritual of announcing a few new IITs, IIMs and AIIMS – like institutions will do little to achieve excellence in the field of higher education.

In the spirit of cooperative federalism, I urge the Finance Minister to support the most promising state universities.

And the fun fare over the Swachch Bharat Aviyan is masking the Government’s unwillingness to admit the public health crisis looming across the country. It should be done on a war footing.

To conclude, Madam Speaker, a Finance Minister’s Budget Speech brought cheer to a handful of billionaires in our country. Having listened to the Opposition, I hope his reply today will offer something that might warm the hearts of a billion ordinary Indians. The amirs can take care of themselves, please look after the interest of the fakirs of India.

Thank you.

Trinamool MPs slam the Government on the Railway Budget 2015-16

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Trinamool MPs Derek O’Brien and Nadimul Haque slammed the Railway Budget 2015-16 in Rajya Sabha, calling it anti common people.

Derek O’ Brien raised the issue of allocation of funds for pending projects in Bengal and gave suggestions regarding passenger and falling freight issue. He pointed out the current document was almost identical to the Vision 2020 document made in the time of Mamata Banerjee as Railway Minister.

Derek O’Brien pointed out that on counts of doubling, gauge conversion, growth of freight loading, growth of passengers originating, Railways performed much better during the tenure of Mamata Banerjee as the Railway Minister, rather than in 2013-14. He also asked the Minister to have a relook on the accounting system, which presently works on a system, which is 95 year old. He reiterated the stand of not supporting FDI in Railways.

“Freight in the Railways has come down from 60% to something like 30%. This is a big loss. I want to make here is that you have to stop competing with road and become a partner of the roads. Like Procter and Gamble (P&G), you should become Prabhu and Gadkari (P&G). Both of you have to work together,” saying that there should be unity in rail and road sector.

He criticised the Government for cutting down the allocations for metro projects and workshops and hollow promise of ‘look east’. He urged the current Government to preserve the only steam engine train run in Darjeeling which is a national heritage.

Click here for the full speech of Derek O’Brien.

Nadimul Haque called this Budget as anti poor. He termed this to be a joke on the poor people. He slammed the Government for not looking towards the backward region of the country. Despite the fact, that oil prices have decreased, the Government has increased the freight fares, which will hurt the common people and prices of essential goods will increase.

“Railway along with being a National Asset is also a strategic Defense Asset where the PPP model will only benefit corporates. Railway is th elifeline of India’s large population, do not treat it just as a commercial entity”, he said.

Click here for the full speech of Nadimul Haque.

Saugata Roy speaks during discussion on the Budget (General) 2015-2016 | Transcript

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Thank you Madam.

I rise to speak on the Budget presented by Sri Arun Jaitley and I hope that he will be back soon to listen to our points. I have also listened very carefully to the speeches made by Sri Veerappa Moily, Sri Hukmdev Narayan Yadav and Sri Thambidurai.

I shall try to avoid duplication of whatever they have said. I also came to Lok Sabha in 1977. Hukmdev Narayan Yadav Ji said a few minutes back. From a lohiyavadi he has become a hindutyavadi. I want to address my questions to him only.

The Finance Minister has started by talking about the successes of the Government like Jan Dhan, coal auction and Swach Bharat. He has also talked about the Government’s plan up to 2022. Nobody knows, whether they will be in power till then.

Madam, the Budget speech appears to be self congratulatory. The Finance Minister has said that the opportunity has arisen, because we have created it. Let me, examine his statement. Inflation is certainly down, and so is Current Account Deficit. But this has more to do with the fall in the international crude prices, from $110/ barrel in June 2014 to $57/ barrel currently. Instead of passing on the benefits of the decline to the consumer, the Government has hiked Excise Duty to petrol and diesel by Rs 7.75 and Rs 6.5 per litre respectively, mopping up thousands of Crores of additional revenues.

The Finance Minister claims that he has been successful, but in the last financial year, the gross tax revenue have fallen by Rs 1.13 lakh Crore from the budget estimates last year and direct and indirect tax collections have fallen on all heads. This poses questions on the growth revival story.

The Finance Minister said that the growth rate is 7.4%. This is questioned by his own department, in the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey says, “Notwithstanding the new estimates, the balance of evidence and caution council in favour of viewing India, as a recovery rather than surging economy.”

So, 7.4% may not have been achieved, it is only due to the change of indices by the Central Statistical Organisation, that the Government has claimed that there is a great growth and we are a surging economy.

I wanted Hukmdev Narayan Yadav Ji to be present.

Now let me point out to him what the Government has done with regard to taxes. They have not raised the Income Tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. This has been criticized by nobody other than Sri Yashwant Sinha, the father of our young Minister of State for Finance. This was also included in the BJP’s Election Manifesto but they have not fulfilled it.

Now Indirect Taxes are up by Rs 23000 crore, direct taxes are down by Rs 8300 crore which means what? Indirect taxes mean a pressure on the consumer. Increase in prices. Direct taxes directly target individuals so this is an anti middle-class step.

Then what they have done? Corporate Tax for the big corporates are being reduced by 5% by 2017. Also Wealth Tax has been abolished. GAAR the General Anti-Avoidance Rules applied to big corporates investing outside has been deferred by two years. So this is a corporate friendly budget. I do not know what Hukumdev Narayan Yadav of Congress would be saying because there are no concession to the middle class, to the common man rather the corporate tax is being reduced. For whom is this target?

Now let me go to some of the Budget estimates. What are the headings under which there has been budget cut – he was talking about kisans. This is the most anti farmer budget in many years. Agriculture has been cut by 14.3%. National Food Security Mission has been lowered by Rs 530 crore. Only the Prime Minister’s Krishi Sinchai Yajona has been increased to make the Prime Minister happy. What about education? Education has been slashed by 16.5%. School education has been cut by 25%. This will affect the mid-day scheme. Primary education ‘Sarba Shikshya Aviyan’, has been cut by 22%.

Now important schemes such ICDS, which gives health food to children. The Budget has been cut from Rs 16316 crore to Rs 8000 crores, to keep the poor children hungry. Sir, even the National Rural Livelihood Mission (MGNREGA) which used to give jobs in rural areas, has been cut from Rs2034 crore to Rs 1800 crore. Sir, NRHM, has remained at the same level. So the every scheme which benefits the poor rural people has seen a cut. If you call this pro poor, pro kisan where kisans budget has been cut, I oppose.

Now the Finance Minister has talked big about devolution of resources. He said look we have accepted the Finance Commission’s recommendations which has suggested devolution from 32% to 42%. But what is actually the total devolution? Whereas he has given with one hand, he has taken away with the other. You will be surprised to know that increase in devolution is Rs.1.36 lakh crore but the Centrally sponsored schemes, grants and loans have been cut by Rs 1.34 lakh crore. So actually from 61.9 devolution is only 62.8%

Now, let me say, basically this Government does not believe in devolution of resources. Look at the case of West Bengal. I shall give you some statistics, Sir. They say that they have helped West Bengal. The Finance Commission has not been favourable to West Bengal, because they included in their criterion of a forest cover of 7.5%. What has happened because of that? Madhya Pradesh, which has got a much lower population than West Bengal, has got 7.54% share of the States, whereas West Bengal has got only a share of 7.34%.

West Bengal with a much larger population has got the same level of Madhya Pradesh. Bihar has got less population than West Bengal, but it has got 9.665%. So, even in the devolution by the Finance Commission of which Government cannot take credit, because like all other previous Governments, they have accepted the recommendations of the Finance Commission, we have suffered.

The Finance Minister can well come and say that, he has given West Bengal some revenue deficit grant of Rs 11,000 Crore. Out of this Rs 11,000 Crore, only Rs 8,500 Crore is being paid this year. We have to pay Rs 31,000 Crore to the centre for loans incurred by the previous Left Front Government. So, we are in fact paying Rs 23,000 Crore extra.

Our Chief Minister came and pleaded that please defer the collection of the past loans and interest on it, otherwise your Rs 11,500 Crore will be chicken feed. The Centre has not listened. We have paid interest on loans of Rs 82,000 Crore in the last three and half years, out of which Rs 76,000 Crore relates to the previous Government.

Now, let me come to the main thing, why this Government is called as anti poor. They are cutting the schemes of ICDS because they will introduce new scheme of sharing. The new scheme of sharing has three categories. One category is that they will fully funded by the Centre. The second category is that they will be shared between the State and the Centre in a changed pattern. The third category is where the Centre will not pay a single rupee.

The BRGF, which earlier helped the backward region of the country, has been abolished. The Centre will not pay a single rupee. So, 23 schemes will be funded by the Centre, 13 schemes will be shared between Centre and State and there are schemes which are totally de-linked like BRGF, modernisation of police, which you mentioned, national e-governance plan will not get a single rupee from the Centre.

What do we see about the Centre? What is their road map? What is their policy? If you study carefully, their policy can be summed up like this.

A) Their fiscal roadmap is a compression of public spending on welfare measures. Centre will not pay any money on the welfare of the poor people.

B) The narrowing focus on public investment on sectors like railways, road, defence and hoping to trigger a recovery in the private investment.

C) The tax give-aways to corporate sectors and financial elite.

D) Mopping up revenues through increase in indirect taxes, disinvestment and hike in user charges.

Now what is their formula. Their formula is cut all these welfare measures. Give extra Rs 70,000 crore to invest in infrastructure then maybe the growth rate will rise. This Government believes in a top down approach, they believe in trickle down approach. No help for poorer people. No help for agriculturist, workers, students, youth, nobody. We will create wealth at the top by the corporates slowly it will trickle down below. We are against this.

The whole policy of the Government, the ‘modinomics’ that has been expostulated by the Finance Minister is an anti-poor step.

What does reforms mean for them? Reforms mean the new Land Law which we have opposed tooth and nail. New coal auction law. New mines and minerals law . Increase in FDI in Insurance. Increase in FDI in Defence. So money will come from the Corproates and from the foreigners. Open the door for them – remove GAAR. Vodafone may buy over Hutchinson in Mauritius but run the business in India and not pay a single rupee in taxes, that is why I appreciate Jayant’s father, Yashwant Sinha. He said GAAR should have been included this year, General Anti-Avoidance Rules. This people who buy companies abroad should be made to pay here but the present Government does not believe. What is its motto? Its motto is corporatize. Make everything into a corporation. They are now proposing to corporatize the ports run by the government against which the port workers are going on strike. They want to corporatize the ordinance factories. They want to privatise airports. They want to privatise whatever is in Government’s hand and if it is to believe Sir, this year Rs 65000 crore they are hoping to get through public sector disinvestment. This is like selling the family silver. This is what the Government is doing at the alter of the corporates, hoping that this will trigger a growth, take India to new heights.

India will not advance in this way. Sir, we are opposed to this total philosophy of the Government which takes away the nutritious food the children are getting. This will take away the mid-day meal because they are saying states will do this. Now, states you give them 42% untied funds. The states have their own priority. They may build irrigation dams, build roads then what will happen to the ICDS children? They what will happen to the mid-day meals? What will happen to the poorer sections of people for whom a Centrally sponsored meal was a guide. Please isko implement karo, that will go. The poor will become poorer.

This is not the way for India. What they are saying we have given more power to the state, as I said they have not devolved more money. I am reminded of a Urdu sher which says – panchhi jo urti hai, chaman badal gaya, haste hai sitare toh gagan badal giya. Aaj shamashan ki khamoshi bata rahi hai lash wohi hai sirf kafan badal gaya.

They are the same only they have given a new packaging. Mr Jaitley’s Budget is nothing but a packaging on behalf of the corporates.

Thank you.

Nadimul Haque makes Special Mention on increased representation of minorities in PSUs | Transcript

Posted on March 16, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, through you I wish to mention about worrisome low trend of representation of minorities in the public sector employment as well as in the central police forces which is only 7.8% and 9.9% respectively now.

Sir, there have been many studies conducted regarding the socio-economic condition of minorities and recommendations have been submitted to the Government and in those reports, it has been argued that minorities especially Muslims continue to be left out of both government jobs and the urbanisation wave.

Moreover, basic advantages of a better sex ratio and higher birth rate have been wasted due to lack of health facilities in areas dominated by Muslims and a high school drop-out rate. Sir, nearly six months have passed since the submission of Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee’s report but no action has been taken by the Government.

Sir, I wish to request the Government, through you, that it must incentivise both private and public sector companies to undertake large scale and strong affirmative action initiatives in skill trainings and employment opportunities for minority and especially Muslim youths. Also, there should be Government led planned recruitment drives in the time bound manner for them.

Finally, I wish to conclude by saying that the true idea of India resides in representation by we all, and it must be respected.

Thank you.

Derek O’Brien speaks on Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 | Transcript

Posted on March 12, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, I rise to strongly oppose the Bill that proposes to increase the FDI cap in Insurance from 26% to 49%.

It is not a coincidence that the Prime Minister is on an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean or the Finance Minister is on a plane to London or the Home Minister is about to try some vegetarian sushi in Japan.

So who are we left with? We are left with the Foreign Minister on Indian soil. This gives us a good sense of this new Government and where this new Government is headed.

So, it does not surprise me one bit that they believe that FDI is the magical jaributi, which will cure India of all its problems.

Sir, I have heard what the Samajwadi Party said and what the JDU said, and I urge Bahujan Samaj Party and the DMK, as Trinamool, not to be a part of this new alliance between both the sides.

I want to give them five solid reasons as where both sides are wrong. But before I give the five reasons, let me respond to the two-three points that the Speaker from BJP said.

One he said, that in USA, 100% of FDI is allowed. Correct, but what he didn’t tell you is how many States have taken 100% in FDI. 37 States in United States of America have never taken FDI in insurance under their State Law. Only 13 States have adopted it.

Secondly, he told you quite correctly that when LIC Chairman came and had coffee with us at the Select Committee meeting, he endorsed FDI. What he didn’t tell you is what happened on March 9 is all across the country the LIC employees were protesting and doing dharna.

Now, let me come to the five points. I will speak one by one, no emotion, only rationale. Not political but insurance rationale. Trinamool always gives you constructive criticism. That is why we gave you Mining Bill, which is going through in one week.

Sir, on the insurance penetration, Ram Gopal ji had made the point; I do not want to dwell on it. From 2000 to 2015, there has been an increase of 3.9% in insurance penetration. In the last 5 years, the penetration has in fact dropped by 1%.

Now their target is 3% in the next five years. Do not say we did not warn you, this will never happen. Next, in the last ten years how much has the LIC given you in terms of dividend? Rs 7800 crore is what you have got from FDI in ten years.

What has the LIC given you? About Rs 1200 crore to Rs 1400 crore every year. You add it up, FDI in Insurance has given you Rs 7800 crore and LIC Dividend has given you Rs 14000 crore in the last 10 years.

Now let me come to the dangerous part about investment in infrastructure. This is my second point. 65% of the Funds are invested in ULIPs (this is the private insurers who have come to India) whereas LIC has only 8%. Now what does this mean? This means these funds are at high risk; that is why we are telling you, do not touch this, this is dangerous.

The last point is the investment in infrastructure – average annual premium for the private insurers, is an interesting figure of Rs 60,000, and the average annual premium of LIC – Rs 9000. You can draw your own inferences as to who is going to the top end of the market and who is actually doing the dirty work at the bottom end of the market.

My third of the five points Sir. Let me come to claim and settlement performance. These are not my figures, these are IRDA figures. Claims and settlement performance the best you can have in Six Sigma is 99.999%. The LIC’s figure is at 99.86% settlement and the private sector is at 79%. These are IRDA figures, not mine and the same Chairman of LIC who had come and had coffee and said “sell”.

Lapse ratio in LIC is 5% and in private insurers it is 47%. I am not getting technical; Ram Gopal ji has already mentioned that for claims if you do this then from LIC you send it to the ICU.

Sir, portfolio investment has been included. This is hot money and both the Congress and BJP have included themselves in this. This is dangerous because portfolio investment, everyone knows what happened in the time of global recession. What would have happened to this money if it was caught up in the global recession? If it was caught up in the global recession I do not need to remind you Sir, AIG was bailed out for almost USD 200 Billion. So this is a very dangerous trend Sir.

Sir, because the Congress speaker who got up said “I went to UPenn”; this gentleman also went to UPenn. We are happy and proud of such Indians. Then Harvard, then McKinsey; all are very good institutions. I only went to St. Xavier’s in Kolkata. So, I wanted to quote a great American Noble Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, because even Joseph Stiglitz cautioned against FDI in insurance. He avoided foreign capital advised to leverage domestic savings.

I will conclude with an Indian quote.

“The public sector general insurers have expressed confidence in raising the capital projected as required by IRDA. The double digit growth of the Indian insurance sector could be maintained during the global financial crisis of 2008, because 74% of the paid-up equity capital was held by Indian promoters and only 26% by the foreign promoters. The Committee would, therefore, consider it prudent to seriously pursue the alternate route of tapping the Indian market for raising the capital required for the sustenance and growth of the sector.”

It was a disaster in 2008. Thankfully because we had 26%, we got saved.

Now, who said this? This was said by Yashwant Sinha ji. Now, at least he should try and convince you.

Now, the Trinamool warns you, we also warned the previous Government. We warned them on the Land Acquisition. We were the only party who called for a Division and said do not do that, but our friends from the Congress and our friends from the BJP said, “no, no you are 11-12 in Rajya Sabha.”

Now, what do I say? This is Yashwant Sinha ji’s view. So all I have to say at the end is:

Papa kehte hain bada naam karega
Beta humaara aisa kaam karega.

D Bandyopadhyay speak on Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 | Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

I rise to support this Bill. This Bill brings e-carts and e-rickshaws under the ambit of Motor Vehicles Act for carrying goods and passengers. It also relaxes condition for obtaining license for a public service vehicle. To get a learner’s license for a public service vehicle you need one year experience of driving a light motor vehicle. This Bill relaxes that condition.

Possibility is that this Bill will result in employment for a large number of people. Drivers would now have a smooth transition from manual rickshaw to electric power seal-wheel vehicles.

In West Bengal our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has introduced a unique scheme that will bring 6000 manually‐pulled rickshaws in Kolkata under green rickshaw i.e. solar power e‐cart or e‐rickshaw to provide employment as well as to provide pollution free environment to our new generation.

Central Government should consider starting a scheme for providing easier loans to drivers so that they can procure e-carts, otherwise they will be debarred and new people will continue to use these e-carts.

Derek O’Brien raises the issue of beef ban in Maharashtra | Transcript

Posted on March 11, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, let us not look at this issue from a religious point of view. The issue is about banning the poor man’s protein in Maharashtra. That is what it is called, the poor man’s protein, let me give you the four letter word it is BEEF.

Poor man’s protein why? Besides minorities there are a lot of other people like the Dalits. A lot of people from the North East and from across the country, they eat this meat.

Let us look at the economic and other issues about this, the price of other such meats like fish, mutton and chicken will go up, once you have issued a ban on one meat.

My second point is it is going to affect the farmers. Farmers in Maharashtra have 55% shortage of fodder. By doing this, the sick and old animals will not be slaughtered and farmers will be under a lot of pressure.

The third people, who will be affected, will be the people who are in the business, the traders and butchers.

We are a great democracy, if you go to Dubai or Bahrain, where a certain meat is not allowed, you can still go into the room and buy the meat. Here in Maharashtra the fine for sexual harassment case is less than eating a particular meat.

It is in my liberty, I am in the privacy of my home, what I am allowed to do I do. I am married to a Hindu; I do not eat beef at home that is my choice. Please let us not remove this diversity; I respect anyone else who wants to eat vegetable, fish, chicken, mutton, garlic, that is perfectly okay Sir. It is out right, but you do not need to change the Constitution to change the fabrication of this country.

By doing this you are changing the fabrication of the nation. Anybody can do what they want in the privacy of their home, but how can you tell me to eat a particular meat?

I urge this House to not look at this through a religious connotation. This is a bigger issue. Let this great country have its diversity.

Thank You.

Trinamool Govt is always there to provide constructive opposition: Derek O’Brien | Transcript

Posted on March 10, 2015 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Full transcript:

Sir, I will just take four minutes to make four points.

Sir, the basic thing which we are saying is that we want to make some constructive suggestions.

The first one is the extension of the area of mining and the second one Sir, is to do with Clause 18 and 20 where the Government has made a lot of statements about Cooperative Federalism. So the point which we want to make is that please take the State Governments into confidence. Please work it out in such a way where the State Government will not be harassed, will not be run over.

If this can be assured by the Government we have no issues and on that point on going along with this Bill. But this needs to be addressed; the State Governments have to be taken into confidence. However, Clause 18 and 20, there is some issue on that.

Then we come to the District Mineral Foundation and the National Mineral Exploration. That overall is a good idea, but you have not told us in detail how this will be organised. What is the organisational structure?

Our constructive suggestion are these, please consider putting this in the rules so we all know how that is going to be constructed. How it is going to be made up.

In fact while on that point there is an issue of the welfare of the tribals and no doubt this has to be addressed in the most serious manner possible in the DMF – should the Adivasis and the tribals have a decisive management in that DMF, so that they feel that they are a part of this. These are constructive suggestions you will get from Trinamool.

It is not that we will sit here and oppose everything; we are opposed to certain sections. We have issues on the way you handle federalism. We have other bigger issues on how you handle communal issues of the country. We are telling you to tread carefully on federalism and please take the states into confidence. You are doing a lot of talk on federalism, once we see that the talk comes into action on the ground, we will be with you. You will have to be very careful to see that you do not run roughshod on the States.

The Adivasis is a big issue. We have given you a concrete, solid, actionable way where you can get around them, because 40% of those mining districts are of the Adivasis.

The last is an ecological point. On the ecological point, you haven’t addressed the issue of closure of mines which the UPA II Bill had done very well in the 2011 Bill. If you can address the ecological issue, because it is a very open ended question on the closure of the mines, and once the mines don’t shut down there are sustainable development issues and ecological issues. I urge the Government to quickly address the issues in the best way possible.

Trinamool is always there to provide constructive opposition and we will continue to do that.

Thank you.