Oppn lashes out at UPA lapses on economic front

New Delhi, Apr 30: The BJP-led Opposition and the Left parties today charged the government with failing to contain spiralling price rise and inflation even as the treasury benches highlighted the faster growth of economy under the UPA government.

Participating in the debate on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to give effect to the proposals in the Budget for 2007-08, BJP members found fault with the Congress, which ruled the country most, for the present state of affairs in which about 28 per cent of the people live below the poverty line after 60 years of independence.

Initiating the discussion, Senior BJP member Harin Pathak said the prices of all commodities had been going sky-high since the UPA government came to power in 2004. When the BJP was in powre, there was no food shortage. The situation now was that the government had started importing pulses, he said.

He blamed the government's economic policies and lack of sincerity for the continuing inflationary trend.

Mr Pathak said none of the miseries of the common man had been alleviated under the present government. "In fact, their problems had got aggravated." Marxist member Rupchand Pal warned the ruling UPA to tread cautiously as otherwise they would also face the same fate as the BJP-led NDA which sought to ''cheat'' the people through their "India Shining" campaign during the last general elections.

Accusing the government of indulging in hype about growth, he said "the growth story of the UPA government is fast losing its lustre." In this context, he pointed out that the benefits of the growth was not really reaching the poor. In fact, the economic growth had helped to create more billionaires and more scams starting from Harshad Mehta.

He made a strong case for bringing the stock market under the purview of the Right to Information Act.

Mr Sandeep Dikshit (Congress) asked the Finance Minister to fully exempt from income tax, senior citizens with girl children. This would help the senior citizens not to depend on their girl children after they were married off.

He suggested that the income tax ceiling limit should be linked to inflation.

Mr Dikshit asked the government to insist on the private sector to invest a special percentage of their turnover for research and development.

He wanted the Centre to reward the states which excelled in environment protection and punish those who ruined natural resources.

Mr Ramji Lal Suman(SP)said anxiety was being expressed over price rise since last one year but all efforts to contain the trend have so far been of no avail.The Government seem to be more concerned about increasing the growth rate rather than checking the price rise, he alleged. But where did the common man figure in the growth rate, he asked and said in the name of higher growth rate a few people were becoming multi -millionaires and billionaires while the poor was getting poorer. He quoted Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar saying that the common man had not benefitted with the increase in growth rate.

He said the Government should realise the gravity of the situation as it was becoming difficult for the common man to make both ends meet.

Mr Vijai Krishna (RJD) demanded imposition of tax on dividend and said there should be no reduction in corporate tax. He wanted the law on Special Economic Zones (SEZs)to be amended requiring only infertile land to be acquired for the purpose. If this was not provided for in the law, then there would be many more Nandigram like incidents, he warned.

Mr B Mehtab (BJD) said tax reforms must include their administration to make the tax collection hassle free. He said excise duty collection was lagging behind in the manufacturing sector. He wanted to know from the Finance Minister how much additional resources had been mobilised through changes in the rate of surcharge and cess. He wanted the revenue collected by the Centre through surcharge and cess to be shared with the states. He said the estimated loss of revenue to the Government due to tax relief to developers of SEZ would be to the tune of Rs 48881 crores.

Mr Vijayendra Pal Singh (BJP) said the shares given by IT companies under the employees stock option should not be treated as fringe benefit and taxed as it was the IT industry that was driving the entire economy. He also wanted the tax holiday scheme, given to hotels in Delhi and nereby places, extended to Rajasthan. Mr Madhu Goud Yaskhi (Cong) called for using the more than Rs 3,000 crore earmarked for new OBC quota for the benefit of meritorious OBC students in the wake of the Supreme Court stay on OBC quota in higher educational institutions.

Mr Satyanarayan Jatiya (BJP) asked the government to lay more emphasis on the special component plan aimed at the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

NSV Chitthan (Congress) called for a strong political will on the part of the government for an economically sound country. He said the government should ensure the proper implementation of several centrally-sponsored schemes like the NREGS, Mid-Day meal scheme, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Bharat Nirman among other. Mr Chit also urged the government to take immediate steps to contain price rise and inflation.

K Francis George (Kerala Congress) made a strong case for further involvement of the states in framing financial policies and programmes, providing basic amenities to the rural areas and increased share in service taxes.

P S Gadhavi (BJP) deplored that the government has ''disappointed'' the senior citizes in terms of tax deduction at source on their savings in the banks, post offices and fixed deposits.

''These must be restored,'' he added.

Ms Tejeswani Seeramesh (Congress) called for immediate steps to gear up irrigation facilities, step up employment opportunities in the rural areas and withdrawal of tax exemption for the corporates setting shops in the SEZs.

Mrs Sumitra Mahajan (BJP) urged the government to reduce the tax audit limit for the small scale sector from the present level of Rs 40 lakh to at least One crore. She said this step would help the sector to devote much more time towards the improvement of their products. ''It is this sector which generates the most employment,'' she said.

She also urged for allowing the senior citizens to withdraw their money from the fixed blocks which were created when they were given one per cent extra interest rate at 9 per cent as now most of the banks are already providing 10 per cent interest under general category. She said by doing this the Government will be saving one per cent as subsidy.

V Arun Kumar (Cong) stressed the need for spending more for the rural and backward people as they are the weakest section of society.

Khagen Das (CPM) while criticising the government for doing mere ''jugglery'' while making budgetary allocations under various heads. Mr Das said the government in fact has reduced the budgetary allocation towards the North Eastern Region (NER) - the most backward region of the country -- which would only increase the disparity.

He said the so called Public-Private partnership would not work in this region in view various region specific problems. Even the Central ministries have not been able to utilise their 10 per cent allocated fund in the NER which was being shifted to DONER under the non-lapsable central fund.

Mr Das pleaded to include the North Tripura districts under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for the benefit of the rural and backward people of this region.

Mr B K Deo (BJP) said the government has failed to check farmers suicides as the banks were not providing necessary loans.

He said, despite claims, the allocation towards the eight districts of Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) is still short of Rs 130 crores.

Mr Arjun Charan Sethi, who was in the Chair, adjourned the House till May 3.

UNI