Left says Budget fails to provide relief, seeks amendments

New Delhi, Feb 28 (UNI) The Left parties today said the UPA government's budget for 2007-08 turned out to be ''a grave case of missed opportunities'', as it will be unable to contain price rise and provide relief to the common man.

Terming the Budget as ''unimpressive and disappointing'' even as it contained some additional allocations for education, agriculture, health care and handlooms, the CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc said the one per cent cess on education will further burden the common man who, they said, was already reeling under the impact of price rise of almost all commodities.

While CPI(M) leadership said, at a press conference in Parliament House that ''the party is agitated as the budget proposals will not reduce price rise,'' the CPI top leaders told UNI the agricultural labourers have got a raw deal by way of health scheme which is linked to insurance.

CPI(M) Parliamentary Group Leader Sitaram Yechury said the budget offered no thrust or specifics on the ways and means to curb price rise. ''Indeed, the UPA government should have gone for shift from the Ad Valorem to Ad Volume to reduce prices of petroleum products and increasing food subsidy to contain inflation.'' He said the budget offered no concrete methods to mobilise resources to meet the Common Minimum Programme committments, ''even as it chose to increase allocations for social sectors.'' Mr Yechury said the UPA government, in a very clever way, had put the burden of the central plan assistance on the states. ''This is a serious matter, the states will definitely take up the matter with the Centre.'' On the broad philosophy of the budget, the CPI(M) leaders said this is essentially ''an income redistribution mechanism'', but the proposals stand for status quo which meant more and more concessions to the corporate sector and industry.

On the ''political message'' of the proposals, CPI (M) leader Rupchand Pal said it was apparent the Congress had not learnt any lesson from its debacle in Punjab and Uttarakhand polls.

Replying to a specific query on whether the Left would join the Samajwadi Party which had given a notice for a Cut Motion, the CPI(M) leader said they would rather go in for seeking amendments and corrective measures in and outside Parliament.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and S Sudhakar Reddy said there was absolutely no need for reducing some taxes on big companies and corporate houses. ''The allocation for technological upgradation of textiles is only nominal when compared to the tax benefits to the affluent.'' Mr Reddy, CPI Chief Whip in Lok Sabha, said agricultural labourers got a raw deal in the health scheme for them as it is linked to insurance and 50 per cent of the premium has to be paid by states who were mostly in debts.

Besides, the budget had no reference to any loan waiver for farmers, suicide by them in various parts of the country and revival of sick units.

Forward Bloc National Secretary G Devrajan said the budget also did not refer to any ways and means to check growing unemployment, which according to the latest National Sample Survey, had increased in both the organised and unorganised sectors.

UNI