February
3,
2004
Press
Statement
The
Polit
Bureau
of
the
Communist
Party
of
India
(Marxist)
has
issued
the
following
statement:
“THE
INTERIM
BUDGET”
FOR
2004-05
1.
The
Finance
Minister’s
claim
in
his
“interim
budget”
speech
that
the
macroeconomic
situation
today
is
the
best
it
has
been
in
the
last
50
years
is
a
cruel
joke.
The
per
capita
net
availability
of
foodgrains
in
India
today
is
down
to
the
level
which
prevailed
on
the
eve
of
the
second
world
war,
having
dropped
by
over
15
percent
since
the
beginning
of
the
nineties.
The
situation
in
rural
India
is
far
worse,
the
per
capita
rural
calorie
intake
being
about
13
percent
lower
than
in
1987-88.
Public
rural
development
expenditure,
at
around
6
percent
of
GDP
is
less
than
half
of
the
level
(14.5
percent)
that
prevailed
during
the
Seventh
Plan.
Unemployment
in
the
country
as
a
whole,
especially
in
rural
areas,
has
increased
so
sharply
that
an
average
male
agricultural
labourer
gets
less
than
100
days
of
employment
virtually
everywhere
in
the
country
today.
Never
in
the
history
of
post-independence
India
have
the
workers,
the
rural
poor,
and
large
masses
of
the
peasantry
experienced
so
dramatic
and
sustained
a
decline
in
their
living
conditions
as
during
the
years
of
NDA
rule.
- The
claim
of
a
7.5-8
percent
growth
rate
signifies
nothing,
since
this
rate
is
calculated
on
the
low
base
of
the
previous
year
which
saw
a
decline
in
agricultural
output
and
a
sharp
recession
in
the
industrial
sector.
The
investment
ratio
which
is
the
main
determinant
of
growth
rate
has
stagnated
throughout
the
nineties,
the
figures
for
the
years
of
NDA
rule
being
lower
than
at
the
beginning
of
the
nineties.
The
large
forex
reserves,
which
the
Finance
Minister
claimed
as
an
“achievement”,
are
a
millstone
around
the
country’s
neck,
since
the
rate
of
return
earned
in
the
country
by
the
speculators
whose
financial
inflows
have
largely
contributed
to
these
reserves
is
much
higher
than
what
the
country
earns
by
holding
these
reserves.
In
effect,
by
holding
such
reserves
the
country
is
borrowing
at
exorbitant
rates
to
lend
at
1-1.5
percent
(which
is
what
the
reserves
earn),
which
shows
policy
incompetence.
Even
the
“fiscal
consolidation”
claimed
by
the
Finance
Minister
is
baseless.
The
real
index
of
fiscal
health,
the
revenue
deficit,
which
stood
at
3.5
percent
in
1999-2000
is
at
3.6
percent
in
2003-04.
- In
the
face
of
this
acute
all-round
crisis
of
the
people,
all
that
the
government
has
chosen
to
do
is
to
give
even
more
concessions
to
the
rich
and
the
affluent.
Enlarging
the
exemptions
from
capital
gains
tax,
modernizing
airports,
building
convention
centers,
reducing
customs
duty
on
foreign
travelers,
and
reducing
stamp
duty
(whose
main
beneficiaries
would
be
those
engaged
in
large
property
transactions)
--these
are
the
main
thrust
of
the
“interim
budget”.
The
schemes
announced
for
the
rural
sector
are
all
in
the
realm
of
arranging
for
funds
from
other
sources
rather
than
making
any
direct
contributions
from
the
budget.
Since
notwithstanding
the
Antyodaya
scheme
that
is
supposed
to
have
covered
1.5
crore
below-poverty-line
population,
the
state
of
the
rural
poor
has
deteriorated
sharply
in
the
last
five
years,
its
extension
to
2
crores
can
scarcely
bring
any
comfort.
Likewise
when
there
has
been
a
drastic
decline
in
rural
credit
from
the
banking
sector,
despite
the
existence
of
“priority
sector”
norms,
merely
asking
banks
to
give
more
credit
to
the
peasants,
means
nothing.
This
“interim
budget”,
while
betraying
complete
cynicism
towards
the
people,
contains
all
the
falsehoods
which
the
NDA
government
has
been
propagating,
with
the
shameless
use
of
people’s
money,
to
boost
its
electoral
prospects.
The
Polit
Bureau
of
the
CPI(M)
calls
upon
the
Indian
people
to
see
through
this
fraudulent
exercise
of
the
interim
budget.
Its
basic
objective
is
to
appease
certain
sections
of
the
population
in
return
for
their
electoral
support.
These
proposals
are
an
exercise
of
irresponsibility
by
a
government
that
will
shortly
cease
to
exist.
Clearly
the
people
must
be
prepared
to
face
a
significant
dose
of
economic
burdens
when
all
the
sops
announced
so
far
by
this
government
will
have
to
be
accounted
for.
The
desperation
with
which
such
sops
are
being
announced
betrays
the
BJP-led
NDA’s
apprehensions
that
they
are
unlikely
to
return
to
office
after
the
general
elections.
