COMMUNIQUÉ OF CPI (M) CENTRAL COMMITTEE AFTER ITS MEETING ON 04-03-2011 AND 05-03-2011
The union budget manifests all the negative features of the neo-liberal policies being pursued by the UPA government. It has totally failed to address the serious problems of high inflation and the relentless rise of food and fuel prices. The refusal to reduce excise and customs duties on petroleum products that were increased in the last budget signals the government’s intention to allow fuel prices to increase at a time when the international oil prices are going up. The budget has failed to come out with any measures to curb price rise at a time when the people are suffering from the relentless rise of food and fuel prices. The massive Rs 20,000 crore cut in subsidies of fuel, fertiliser and food will add to the burdens on the people.
The Direct Cash Transfer programme in lieu of subsidies will only lead to further price rise. It will lead to the exclusion of large sections of the country’s poor from subsidised food and fuel. It will open the way for dismantling the public distribution system and push the people to the market and the private sector where prices will increase and the cash subsidy will remain fixed. Further, cash transfer for fertilisers to the BPL category alone will mean excluding most farmers who are landholders and do not come under the BPL category.
The budget, while cutting subsidies, has given further concessions to the corporate sector with the cut in surcharge. The corporate tax exemption for 2010-11 totalled over Rs 88,000 crore. Rs 40,000 crores is targeted for realisation through disinvestment of PSU shares. The allocations for the welfare of women, minorities, dalits and tribals are thoroughly inadequate. The service tax of five percent on diagnostic tests and for hospitals will make access to health care more difficult for people.
The Central Committee opposes the retrograde provisions in the budget and calls upon the party to mobilise people against the new burdens imposed on them.
