Opposition lashes out at UPA lapses on economic front

New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) 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.

More UNI