Tag: Union Budget

Trinamool’s reaction to Union Budget 2018-19

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Trinamool’s reaction to Union Budget 2018-19

Super-flop show; big bluff show. No mechanism to implement announcements.

It is clear that all sections are displeased, disappointed, angry : the unemployed, the farmers, the youth, SC/ST, majority, minority.

People have lost their trust in this government. People have lost their faith. After today’s #Budget, their credibility is now zero.

Bengal gives free treatment and medicines. Our schemes on health, education and the emancipation of girls have already been implemented.

Bengal has already doubled farmer income in 5 years. Now GOI is again talking about doubling farmer income. Will agriculture grow at 12% per annum? They are again bluffing.

– Derek O’Brien, Leader of All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in Rajya Sabha

 

কেন্দ্রীয় বাজেট নিয়ে তৃণমূলের প্রতিক্রিয়া

সুপার-ফ্লপ শো; বিরাট ধাপ্পাবাজি। যে ঘোষণাগুলি করা হয়েছে সেগুলি বাস্তবায়িত করার কোনও রূপরেখার কথা বলা হয়নি।

কর্মহীন মানুষ, কৃষক, যুব, তপসিলি জাতি ও উপজাতি, সংখ্যাগুরু, সংখ্যালঘু সমাজের সর্বস্তরের মানুষ অসন্তুষ্ট, আশাহত, ক্ষুব্ধ।

মানুষ এই সরকারের প্রতি বিশ্বাস হারিয়েছে। আজকের বাজেটের পর এই সরকারের আর কোনও গ্রহণযোগ্যতা নেই।

বাংলায় স্বাস্থ্যপরিষেবা ও ওষুধ বিনামূল্যে পাওয়া যায়। স্বাস্থ্য, শিক্ষা, নারী ক্ষমতায়নের বিভিন্ন প্রকল্প বাংলায় ইতিমধ্যেই বাস্তবায়িত হয়েছে।

বাংলায় পাঁচ বছরেই কৃষকদের আয় দ্বিগুন হয়েছে। আর কেন্দ্রীয় সরকার এখন কৃষকদের আয় দ্বিগুন করার কথা বলছে। প্রতি বছর কৃষিক্ষেত্রে বৃদ্ধি কি ১২ শতাংশ হারে হবে? আবারও মানুষকে ধোঁকা দেওয়া হচ্ছে।

– ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন, রাজ্যসভায় সর্বভারতীয় তৃণমূল কংগ্রেসের দলনেতা

Vivek Gupta speaks in Rajya Sabha on the Union Budget

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sir, a lot have been said about the Budget by my esteemed colleagues before me. Sir, through you, I want to point out to the Hon. FM a very glaring fact. Sir, in the name of various cess and surcharge, Rs 1.7 lakh crore is collected every year. Sir, this surcharge and cess is not shared with the States.

Sir, through you I would like to know from the Hon. FM, why this discrimination is done and why the States are deprived from their share of the revenue? Why this practice, Sir, of increasing the cess and surcharge? Sir, why not simply increase the tax rates so that the all States – we are sitting in the Council of States – will also get the share of that revenue.

Sir, particularly my State, we have done a rough calculation, is deprived of at least more than Rs 10,000 crore only on this account. That too at a time when there is a a lot of talk about fiscal autonomy and giving greater fiscal power to the States. Sir, I would request you to ensure that I get an answer from the FM.

Sir, moving on,enough has been said about demonetisation; I just want to leave them with some questions. Yesterday Indian Express reported that there is a 10% drop in advance tax collections. All along we have been told that the economy is doing well, the tax collection is going well. Yesterday, March 15, 2017, was the last date of advance tax payments; so there is some effect of demonetisation.

Sir, whenever you use your debit card or credit card, the petrol pumps are charging 2.5% surcharge. The Government of India charges of 15% service tax on this also. And during demonetisation, till December 31, 2016, 0.75% – that is roughly about this service tax amount – was coming back to us. So every time I am swiping my debit card or credit card at the petrol pump, I have to pay 2.5% surcharge. Sir I don’t understand why the government is penalising us for using credit cards while talking of less cash economy.

Sir, this Budget also failed to correct the increasing invasion into the finances of the States. Sir, recently in Bengal two officers were appointed specially by this Central Government just to look over the operations of our treasury. Sir, the Bengal Government is the only recipient of these officers. No other State in India got these officers. Through you, I want to ask why this special treatment was given to Bengal? What has Bengal done to deserve this?

Sir regarding Aadhaar, the government makes an announcement one day and the next day they withdraw the announcement. Now I wonder if the Aadhaar will be made mandatory to even enter the Parliament; probably that is the only thing left.

Sir, on black money enough has been said. I want to point out only one point. Sir 74 percent of the FDA that comes into India comes from three tax havens. These are figures that the government knows. Our Hon. Finance Minister very easily quotes in the press that ‘so many’ people go out abroad every year yet ‘so many’ people pay taxes. But Sir, people don’t even need to go abroad; just send the money abroad and get it back. Everybody knows this. The Panama Papers have been leaked, but Sir, no action has been taken on them. Domestic demonetisation is there, I wonder if there is any plan to do some foreign demonetisation on these people.

Sir, before I end my speech I just want to you speak about tax terrorism that continues. I just want to point out a few things. Probably the government has overlooked these facts. Sir there are 23 crore PAN card holders and only 4 crore file their returns. Sir, what steps has the Government taken to attack these 23 crore people who are not filing their returns? We would like to know the detailed answer from the Minister.

Sir, the PAN card is used more as a photo identity card; my request to you would be to request the Hon. Finance Minister to even put the addresses also on the PAN card. Then it would become a complete photo ID card which has address and photo both. A lot of these people sir have taken PAN cards only because it is the only ID accepted by banks. Although there is a list given by RBI where 18 documents are supposed to be accepted but no bank, no financial institution, no government offices accept these. The first thing they say is give me your PAN card. So, even a poor person with an income of less than Rs 1 lakh per annum has to go for a PAN card. Therefore, the government is feeling that there are so many income taxpayers who are not filing their returns.

It has been pointed out that some 1.8 lakh crore cases are pending in tax disputes. But whenever we get our orders that dues are adjusted, no details of those dues are available on the website. When we go to the Income Tax Department, files are lost. There is total anarchy. Through you, I would request some special trial be done to help these taxpayers.

Thank you, Sir.

 

 

India will muddle through another year of hopes belied and aspirations unfulfilled: Trinamool on Union Budget

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During a discussion on the Union Budget, Kalyan Banerjee (Lok Sabha) and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (Rajya Sabha) spoke on behalf of the party.

Both of them cornered the government on the declining economy, lack of jobs, black money, demonetisation and failed promises of the government.

 

Lok Sabha

Chief Whip of Trinamool in the Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee said that India will muddle through another year of hopes belied and aspirations unfulfilled. He called the Budget controversial and said it does not provide any roadmap for the future.

He asked the government why the cost and ‘benefits’ of demonetisation were not being shared. He wanted to know from the Finance Minister how much black money has been receovered post demonetisation.

On the effect of demonetisation, Kalyan Banerjee said, “The supply chain of leather industry in Bengal is in shambles. So is jute, tea, textile, handloom and handicrafts. Fact remains that Moradabad, Ferozabad, Meerut known worldwide for their glass bangles and sports goods are in miserable shape with maximum units closed. The unorganised sector of India provides 80 percent of jobs and demonetisation has destroyed that.”

Accusing the govt of playing jugglery with words he stated that private sector investment has declined over the last three financial years. “Investors are ineligible or unwilling to borrow and banks are unable to lend. Therefore credit growth to all industries is at all time low and turned negative in October, 2016,” he added.

On government’s penchant for cashless society, he had to say: “This year there has been very good cultivation, but the farmers are not able to sell their crops due to non-availability of cash. You may speak about the cashless society, but you cannot change a 70 year old system with the stroke of a pen overnight. We support cashless, but not in one day or two days, it will take time. Our rural economy is based on cash flows, we cannot shut our eyes to the reality.”

He said demonetisation has destroyed the rural economy: “The Budget has given credit to farmers, which will never reach them because 92 percent villages have no bank in India. The government’s demonetisation policy have already destroyed the cooperative system by not providing them cash which is the mainstay of farmers for credit.”

Full transcript of his speech

 

Rajya Sabha

Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the Budget speech is full of rhetoric and the figures of increase in allocation are deceptive. He said, “ Export has lost momentum. Budget has no word on how the situation can be combated. Nothing has been said on the mounting NPAs over the years.”

He added that people are tired of hearing the growth story. He cited that India accounts for 1 in 3 people living below international poverty line. 800 million lndians live on 1.8$ per day and we talk of growth figures. More than 60% of the wealth is in the hands of only 1% people.”

Puncturing the government’s claims on FDI he said it is alarming that FIIs are constantly selling in equity and fixed income market since November 8, 2016 (when demonetisation was announced). He accused the ruling party of knowing in advance about demonetisation; that is why they bought hundreds of acres of land across States in cash, he added.

“People are suffering due to demonetisation. But government has no answer as to how much black money has been recovered and how much fake currency has been seized,” SS Roy said. “Workers in informal sector, plantation labourers, small traders, MSME – all have been destroyed,” he added.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy wanted to know from the Finance Minister under which provisions of law were limits of cash withdrawal put in place. He said while ATMs still do not have cash, the Finance Minister claims there was no cash crunch for a single day in the last three months.

Reminding the BJP of their electoral promise of doubling the income of farmers, he wanted to know how much profit farmers have made in the last 2.5 years. He also said the BJP’s promise of bringing back black money from abroad was a jumla.

On electoral reforms, SS Roy said that Trinamool has always demanded state funding of polls through Election Commission. He said the measures introduced by the Finance Minister (capping of donations at Rs 2000 and introduction of electoral bonds) would not serve any purpose and were aimed at helping big parties at the cost of smaller parties.

Full transcript of his speech

 

Kalyan Banerjee speaks in the Lok Sabha on the Union Budget | FULL TRANSCRIPT

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Respected Speaker Madam, we are opposing the speech of Budget 2017-2018. Our leader and the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee gave her reaction on the Budget. I start my speech quoting her: “A controversial budget 2017 which is clueless, useless, baseless, mission less, action less. Heartless”.

Fortunately, I had the privilege to work with our Hon’ble Finance Minister in few matters as his junior. But I have never seen him as heartless as earlier which has been done in the Budget speech.

The Budget does not reflect any road map for the country or for the future. The present government has lost all credibility by reason of number of steps including demonetisation that affected public at large of this country.

There is jugglery of words and figures in the Budget. The biggest failure of the government is that the Budget is silent in respect of costs and benefits of demonetisation. The Hon’ble Finance Minister did not give any figure in the Budget speech on two points.

One is how much black money has been extinguished. Second is how much the exercise cost the nation. The Budget has neglected primary education, ICDS and nutrition projects. The Budget also did not speak that how much amount of black money is lying in foreign banks.

In other words there is not a single word about offshore accounts in the Budget. The Budget speech demonstrates a clear admission of the government that private investment is in the doldrums.

In 2015-16, the Government has created 1.5 lakh jobs which is far short from their promises of creating two crore jobs in a year. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) is a widely-used measure for accounting for private investment. According to the Economic Survey, growth of GFCF in financial year 2014 was 4.9 per cent; in financial year 2015 it was 3.9% and in financial year 2016 was – 0.2 per cent. This is how much it has come down.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are the low-cost producers and job-creators. Demonetisation has forced nearly 80 per cent of MSMEs to close down. Most MSMEs are not companies. They are proprietorships or partnerships. From 5.97 lakh to 6.9 4 lakh companies file income tax returns, and amongst them, only 2.85 lakh make profits. Cutting the corporate tax rate for MSMEs from 30 per cent to 24 per cent will therefore benefit only 2.74 lakh MSMEs. If the taxable income is modest the benefits are also modest. It will do nothing to increase sales or create new jobs.

On the other hand, if excise duties or service tax were cut, it would have boosted demand and revived the many MSMEs that have shut down. Deputy Speaker Sir, almost 12 lakh power looms of Maharashtra have been closed down. The diamond industry in Gujarat, due to demonetisation, is in such a bad shape that Bengali diamond-cutters have been forced to return to their State (that is, West Bengal). Workers have returned from Gujarat, Kerala and Mumbai due to demonetisation and the industries have closed down.

The supply chain of leather industry in Bengal is in shambles. So is jute, tea, textile, handloom and handicrafts. Fact remains that Moradabad, Ferozabad, Meerut known worldwide for their glass bangles and sports goods are in miserable shape with maximum units closed.

The unorganised sector of India provides 80 percent of jobs and demonetisation has destroyed that. It is unfortunate Hon. Finance Minister that there is not a single sentence in your speech in respect of the unorganised sector; it fully establishes the Govt’s heartless attitude towards the unorganised sector itself.

The Budget has given credit to farmers, which will never reach them because 92 percent villages have no bank in India. The government’s demonetisation policy have already destroyed the cooperative system by not providing them cash which is the mainstay of farmers for credit.

Now the government is playing jugglery of words. While you have given some tax relief somewhere, you have quietly put some surcharges somewhere else. We can understand very well that when you are giving with one hand and taking away with the other also. It is shocking that when the NPAs of banks have reached Himalayan heights (Rs 6 lakh crore), the Budget has allocated only Rs 10,000 crore only for capitalisation of banks. This is really a cruel joke for the banking sector.

Investors are ineligible or unwilling to borrow and banks are unable to lend. Therefore credit growth to all industries is at all time low and turned negative in October, 2016. Let us look at the NPA situation of the Public Sector; let me give a few figures.

As on March 31, 2014, gross NPA was 4.5%. on March 31, 2015, it was 4.6%. On March 31, 2016, it was 7.8%. And on December 31, 2016 it was 9.1%. As on March 31, 2014, loan accounts that were performing have become Non-Performing Assets under this present government.

Budget 2017-18 has not given any benefit to people of any class of this country. There are only big words about the poor people, farmers, of people of remote areas. I also come from rural area and represent rural people.

This year there has been very good cultivation, but the farmers are not able to sell their crops due to non-availability of cash. You may speak about the cashless society, but you cannot change a 70 year old system with the stroke of a pen overnight. We support cashless, but not in one day or two days, it will take time. Our rural economy is based on cash flows, we cannot shut our eyes to the reality.

Therefore Deputy Speaker Sir, the Budget 2017-18 will be remembered for not extending benefits to the people of this country, and it will be remembered as a damage control Budget. India will muddle through another year hopes belied and aspirations unfulfilled.

With this I am ending my speech. Thank you Sir.  

 

 

 

Saugata Roy speaks during a discussion on Union Budget in Lok Sabha

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Madam, I rise to speak on the Union Budget. Today is the three month completion of demonetisation. I take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the families of more than 150 people who died on the queues due to demonetisation. This House has not adopted a condolence resolution but I propose that a condolence should be made for them. In Bengal one man died in Kanchrapara on the line; he had heart attack while standing in the queue. Before anybody could take him to hospital he died.

Jaitley ji has presented a controversial budget.  The Finance Minister has not rocked any boat. He has gone on a conservative path. And so there is no hype and hoopla over his budget. Now why the Budget is conservative? There is an opportunity for him to take new paths in reform. Why he did not take that?

Let me put it this way that the expectation or the speculation of the Government was that they will have a windfall of four to five lakh crores due to demonetisation. Fifteen and half lakhs were demonetised. They expected that only 10 lakh crores would be deposited. So 5 lakh crores will be with the reserve bank. They will pass it on to the Government and that’s why the Government floated this idea of universal basic income through the economic survey. The Government has not been able to do any such thing because there is no money in the kitty. Actually as much as 15 lakh crores must have been deposited in the banks, which is why the Government is not coming forward to speak on the Budget.

Now Madam speaking on the Budget the total expenditure is said to be Rs 21.6 lakh crores which has only increased by 6.6 percent. Normally it should increase by 10 percent.

Out of that, Rs 16 lakh crore is the government’s revenue income which leaves a gap of five and a half Lakh crore; this will be borrowings. So, the government will borrow this much amount to fund their projects. Tax revenue will be up but non-tax revenue – which rose last year due to sell of  spectrum – will be down by as much as 13.7 percent. Capital receipt is expected on the ground of disinvestment. But, it is doubtful if the government’s target of disinvestment will be filled. Up to December, only Rs 23,000 crore have been found due to disinvestment. So, the government will not be able to meet its target of disinvestment.

Railways, which he took over forcibly, has a Budget of Rs 1.31 lakh crore, the Railway Minister could not even protest. But, after the Finance Minister took over the job of the Railway Minister, two major accidents have taken place – one in Kanpur Dehat, 146 people died; and another, Hirakhand Express where 36 people died. So, Railways safety- for which Rs 1 lakh crore is promised – is in very bad shape.

Madam, the Defense expenditure is set at Rs 2.75 lakh crore which is only 26 percent of China’s military budget. We want to become a big nation, strong nation. But, when spending is concerned, we are spending only 26 percent of China’s military budget. China has got the newest missile with multi-polar missile, together they will one warhead carry 10 missiles and we are far behind China.

Now Madam, the main problem in this Budget, why the government could not spend more money, is that there is no money in the kitty. I mentioned that due to failure of demonetisation, there will be no financial bonanza for the Govt.

Now what will this lead to Madam? This will lead to severe joblessness. I would like to share some figures with you. This was a Budget where government could have taken a big step towards jobs. A million people are entering the job market every month and in 2015, of which figures are available, only 1,35,000 jobs were created. So there is no investment by the private sector in the Indian economy. Where will the jobs come from, that is the big question.

They said that for job creation the youth needs to be skilled. They put a target of 400 million employable youths in seven years. Now of this, only 1.76 million has been skilled out of 400 million and only 5.8 lakh have completed the course. So there is a serious shortfall in skilled Indians. Unemployment will grow in the absence of private sector investment. This will be a major problem that government has not attended to.

Now let us see Madam how much the government is spending. The government has rejected the option to boost aggregate demand to cut indirect taxes specially excise duty and service tax which affects everybody. This would have given relief to crores of people; the government will pay a heavy price in terms of poor demands, lower price, and fewer jobs and closures of MSMEs. Also madam the Gross Fixed Capital Formation, meaning net investment has constantly shrunk and was negative 2% in 2016–17.

There is nothing new in the Budget regarding strategy to revive private and public investment.  The other thing that to be noticed in this budget is the talk of real concern towards farmers.The budget does not even mention the word Minimum Support Price to farmers, which is absolutely essential. Minimum Support Price at the time of acute agrarian distress is not there, so the government is not able to provide relief to the farmers at this crucial time. Demonetisation has affected farmers, farm workers, manual labourers, self employed artisans, and micro small and medium business persons. They lost crores of rupees in terms of wages, incomes and capital. There is absolutely nothing for these sections. There is little.

Mr. Jaitley had the difficult task of damage control on behalf of his Prime Minster because many sections of people were affected by demonetisation. Many sections were angry, so he has given three sops to these sections.

One is towards the middle class. For income between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, income tax has been reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

Two, the MSMEs, as I had mentioned earlier, have been affected badly. So, another sop: for turnover upto Rs 50 crore, the corporate tax has been reduced to 25 per cent – the corporate tax.

And three, they have kept allocation for MGNREGA at Rs 48,000 crore – though it is a very small increase, as last year it was Rs 47,499 crore, so it has been increased by only 1.1 per cent. The need was to increase NREGA by at least 10 to 15 per cent because many people who have lost their jobs are coming back to their villages.

Madam, in Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the last year’s revised estimate was Rs 19,000 crore, this year too it is Rs 19,000 crore, therefore zero per cent increase. Now, allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was Rs 13,240 crore, this year it is Rs 9,000 crore – this means a reduction of 32 per cent. They are talking of the villages, and this is what is happening to the villages.

Again, as far as the cities are mentioned, they launched the ‘Smart City’ programme with much fanfare. Now, for the smart city mission, the estimate has been lowered from Rs 4,676 crore to Rs 4,000 crore. So where is the focus? Where is the thrust of development in urban and rural areas, I want to put to the Hon’ble Minister.

Now, as far as the direct taxes are concerned, I mentioned earlier that two sops have been given – one to the salaried class and another to the MSME. There have been no major cuts in excise. I have no objection to this because he wants to keep the tax net big; he has given a lot of logic that India is an under-taxed country, that the ratio of our gross tax income to GDP is low.  Actually he was planning to increase the taxes, but faced with the anger of the middle classes, the Finance Minister has not increased the taxes.

Now, the Finance Minister has tried to be path-breaking. He is saying that he wants a new law on the funding of political parties. Instead of Rs 20,000 as individual donation, only Rs 2,000 can be donated. Now what is the problem in this – because instead of printing one receipt, you will print ten receipts. They are saying that you can buy election bonds. If you give your name to the bank you can buy election bonds. That’s why the RBI Act will be amended. Now who will want to go to a bank, write his name and buy an electoral bond? Because the Government can always access the bank to determine who have bought election bonds. This is not the way. Our party yesterday demanded that there should be State funding of elections. If you had a bonanza you should have State funding of elections. Let the Government finance the major expenditures of the successful candidates as it happens in Germany and in many other countries of the West. They have not talked about such election reforms.

Madam, I’ve already told you that this Budget is a conservative Budget. Just as there has been no new taxation, there has been no major rebate in taxes which will help to create employment. I’ve mentioned that demonetisation has failed to provide the financial bonanza to the Government. Demonetisation has harmed the economy. Now, even in the Economic Survey, produced by the Government of India, they have said three things. Demonetisation will have three problems. One is the shocks of demonetisation – aggregate demand shock (demand will fall), aggregate supply shock (production would fall) and aggregate uncertainty shock (people will be very wary of investing money).

This is not all. The country faces a grave crisis in the sense that oil prices may rise this year; this year subsidy has been lowered for petroleum – it may suddenly shoot up. Number two: trade tension because of the new protectionist policy of the United States may reduce global growth, and that will affect India too.

This Budget does not provide any vision. The Economic Survey of the Government of India says that we need a vision. Arvind Subramanian is a truthful man and he mentioned something with which I will end. He said, “A new economic vision is needed. If that vision is not found, India will waste the second half of this youth bulge the way it wasted the first. The demographic dividend with the youth bulge is already lost and it will have peaked by 2020”.

So this Budget does not give us a bright picture of the economy. It just stays a conservative Budget in which the Minister has tried to hold the baby for the Prime Minister and done damage control. He was not able to take any major decision. That’s why I cannot support the Budget.

Mamata Banerjee reacts to the Union Budget

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Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today called the Union Budget as “clueless, useless, baseless, missionless and actionless”.

Slamming the Central Government, she tweeted: “A controversial Budget which is clueless, useless, baseless, missionless and actionless. Heartless. No roadmap for the country or the future from a government that has lost all its credibility”

She added, “Tax payers still have restrictions on withdrawals. Remove all restrictions. And where are the figures for demonetisation? Misleading. Full of jugglery of numbers and hollow words which mean nothing.”

 

কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের বাজেটে মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের প্রতিক্রিয়া

বাংলার মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের বাজেটকে “অনর্থক, ভিত্তিহীন, উদ্দেশ্যহীন কর্মহীন ও হৃদয়হীন” বলে আখ্যা দিয়েছেন।

কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের বাজেটের সমালোচনা করে তিনি টুইট করে জানান, “কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের এই বিতর্কিত বাজেট আদপে অনর্থক, ভিত্তিহীন, উদ্দেশ্যহীন কর্মহীন ও হৃদয়হীন। দেশের ভবিষ্যতের কোনও পথনির্দেশ দেননি কেন্দ্রীয় সরকার। এই সরকার সব ধরনের বিশ্বাসযোগ্যতা হারিয়েছে। এই বাজেট বিভ্রান্তিকর।”

তিনি আরও বলেন, “কর প্রদানকারীদের টাকা তোলার ক্ষেত্রে এখনও নিষেধাজ্ঞা বহাল রয়েছে। সব ধরনের নিষেধাজ্ঞা এই মুহূর্তে তুলে নেওয়া হোক। নোটবাতিল সংক্রান্ত কোনও তথ্য কেন বাজেটে নেই? শুধুমাত্র পরিসংখ্যানের ভেলকি ও ফাঁকা আওয়াজ, যার কোনও অর্থ নেই।”

 

 

Do Saraswati bandana not YOUR bandana on Feb 1: Mamata Banerjee to Centre

Posted on | by aitc | Leave a Comment on Do Saraswati bandana not YOUR bandana on Feb 1: Mamata Banerjee to Centre

Taking a dig at the Centre for deciding to present Union Budget on the day of Saraswati Pujo, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted on Saturday stating: “Why don’t we celebrate Saraswati Pujo in big way instead of presenting Union Budget on February 1?”

She added, “Do Saraswati bandana and not YOUR bandana.”

The tweet reads: “February 1 is Saraswati Pujo. This special day for the goddess of learning is a big day celebrated in schools, colleges, homes and clubs.”

The Chief Minister further tweeted that the day of Saraswati Pujo is a state government holiday. “We worship Ma Saraswati and celebrate in a special way in every school, college, university, home and everywhere,” she tweeted.

The Union Budget is pro-corporate and anti-poor: SS Ray in Rajya Sabha

Posted on | by admin2 | Leave a Comment on The Union Budget is pro-corporate and anti-poor: SS Ray in Rajya Sabha

Sukhendu Sekhar Ray today spoke on the Union Budget 2015-16 at the Rajya Sabha. He termed the Budget as anti people, full of rhetoric and a jugglery of statistics.

He pointed out that the Central Plan Assistance to the States has gone down from Rs 338000 Crore to Rs 205000 Crore.

SS Ray asked the Government to include the cess and surcharge in the divisive pool by bringing an Amendment to the Constitution and quoted the Financial Commission recommendations on this.

“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. 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.”

He criticised the Government for cutting down assistance in schemes like BRGF and ICDS, mid-day meal schemes, housing and poverty alleviation.

He cited the UN Millennium Development Report, 2014 where it is shown that 40 Crore people are poorest of the poor, but the Government has no plans for these 40 Crore people. He criticised the Budget saying that this is pro corporate, and has completely forgotten the agricultural sector. India is an agricultural country yes the agricultural sector has been completely ignored in the Budget.

He strongly criticised the Government for deferring GAAR by two years and asked the Government on why they backtracked on the promises of implementing GAAR from Financial Year 2015-16.

The Budget reminded him of an Oscar Wilde quote, ““Someone, who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Click here for SS Ray’s speech

 

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

Posted on | by admin2 | Leave a Comment on Sugata Bose speaks during discussion on Budget (General) 2015-2016 | Transcript

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 criticise the Union Budget 2015-16 in Parliament

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Updated last 21.00 hrs, 16 March 2015

Saugata Roy today spoke on the Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. He severely criticised the Government for the lack of direction and called the budget as ‘anti-poor’.

“The Budget is full of promises and talks, but it definitely has a direction. The direction is towards the economic inequality.  As someone said, they have failed the fiscal test, the test of equity and rising inequality”, said Saugata Roy.

He further criticised the Government for cutting down funds for centrally sponsored schemes. “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”, he said.

He severely criticised the Government for increase of Indirect Taxes, and tax benefits to the corporate sector.

“Corporate Tax for the big corporate is being reduced by 5% by 2017.  Also Wealth Tax has been abolished. GAAR the General Anti-Avoidance Rules, applied to big corporate investing outside has been deferred by two years. So this is a corporate friendly budget”, he observed.

Saugata Roy also highlighted the failure of the Government in bringing back the Black Money slashed abroad.

He spoke about the devolution of funds to West Bengal. West Bengal, despite having a larger population than Bihar has only got 7.34% of the share of the State, while Bihar has got 9.665% and Madhya Pradesh, with much lower population has got 7.54%.

“West Bengal got 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”, he said.

Click here for the full speech of Saugata Roy

Abhishek Banerjee came down heavily on the Government for failed promises and factually dismissed the hollow claim of cooperative federalism. He said that this Budget is no longer the ‘Annual Financial Statement’ (AFS) but is now an ‘Absolute Fictitious Statement.

He said, “The Government spoke about ‘Act East’ in the Budget. The phrase he should have used is bluff east”, he said.  He reminded the House that Rajnath Singh had promised of a package for Bengal, but in reality nothing has happened.

Abhishek Banerjee said, “I am registering my protest today from this August House. In a year from now, the people of Bengal and the people of Bihar will also register their protest.”

The allotment for social sector schemes has been reduced drastically.

“There has been a Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation 35% decrease in allocation. After adjusting for inflation, expenditure for Rural Development and WCD is in fact less than previous budgets, School education there is a 1.7% decrease. Environment, forests and climate change there is a 11.1% decrease, in water resources there is a 41.9% decrease and in new and renewable energy  a 68.3% decrease”, he said.

The Government had promised to bring back the Black Money to the people but yet 98% of the bank accounts under Jan Dhan Yojona remain at zero balances.

Abhishek Banerjee criticised heavily on Government’s road map on women empowerment. The ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme has allocations of only Rs 100 Crores, while the Kanyashree scheme in Bengal has an allocation of nearly Rs 1000 Crore.

He said, “Nirbhaya Fund, increased to Rs 1000 Crore, has remained unspent till now. The Ministry of Women and Child Development had proposed to set up 660 rape crisis centres across the country. The number has been reduced to 36.”

Even on the count of Infrastructure Development. Money has been slashed on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojona, National Livelihood Mission, Ganga rejuvenation allocation and others.

He concluded by saying, “What I believe is that this Government does not know what they are doing and continuously misleading the people.”

Click here for full speech of Abhishek Banerjee