Tag: Union Finance Minister

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

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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

 

Special Assistance to Bengal a ‘bluff’: Mamata Banerjee

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West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee on Monday dismissed as a “bluff” the special assistance proposed by the Central Government for West Bengal and demanded the Centre stop taking away funds towards repayment of loans.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed assistance for Bihar and West Bengal in the 2015 Union Budget.

“Developmental projects need money. Money is being taken away by the Central Government. We are not asking the Centre to give money, we are asking to stop taking away money from us,” Ms Banerjee said after inaugurating a state-run burial ground at Topsia in East Kolkata.

“The so called ‘package’ is a bluff. We used to get 61.8 percent. That is being raised to 62 percent,” the West Bengal Chief Minister said.

State Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra had earlier said the total grant to Bengal in 2014 was Rs 4,05,582 Crore and in 2015, it is Rs 3,28,277 Crore, a reduction of 20 percent.

“The truth is, if all the grants are calculated together, in 2014, 61.88 percent was given, in 2015, the share is 62 percent,” Dr Mitra had said on Saturday.

Dr Amit Mitra slams Jaitley over ‘anti-people’ Union Budget

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West Bengal Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra on Saturday slammed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying there was a dichotomy in the latter’s distribution of central resources to the state governments.

According to Dr Mitra, while one the hand, Jaitley is making a big public display of giving more resources to the state governments through a higher rate of tax devolution, he is carefully concealing the fact that he is also taking away a lot from them. “When you asked me about my reactions to the 14th finance commission recommendations on the higher rate of tax devolution on Friday, I reserved my comments till I studied the budget details.

“Today, after studying the same, it is clear to me that while on the one hand the Union government is making a big public display of offering additional resources to the state governments through a higher rate of tax devolution, on the other it has negated those additional resources by curtailing allocation under major heads of the different centrally sponsored schemes for the state governments,” Dr Mitra told mediapersons at Nabanna on Saturday.

According to Dr Mitra, a 22.14% cut under Sarva Siksha Avijan, a 50% reduction under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and a 12% cutback under the National Livelihood Mission (NLM) are greatest examples of what has been given with one hand and taken away by the other.

“One figure is enough to prove this. The total central grant to the state governments was 4.05 lakh crore for 2014-15, which has come down to 3.28 lakh crore for 2015-16,. It is completely an anti-people budget,” he said.

Commenting on the Union Finance Minister’s announcement of a special assistance package for Bengal and Bihar, Dr Mitra said he is not quite sure whether this special package will come at all.

“The Union Finance Minister said that this special assistance package will come on the lines of what had been earlier announced for Andhra Pradesh. Now, Andhra Pradesh got a financial package of 850 crore. This a paltry sum since the Union government straightaway takes out 28,000 crore from the Bengal exchequer for servicing its debt,” Dr Mitra said.

“The West Bengal Chief Minister will surely take up the matter when she meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.