'Hard' Budget will be a deception: CPI(M)

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, FEB. 15. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said any decision to present a `hard' Union Budget, citing funds for relief and rehabilitation for the quake-hit Gujarat as the reason, would amount to `deception.'

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Sitaram Yechuri, CPI(M) politburo member, said there were indications that the Centre was attempting hard measures on the pretext of Gujarat but its ulterior motive was to plug the fiscal deficit.

While the damage caused by the earthquake had been estimated at Rs. 21,000 crores, the Centre had not given any account of the financial aid that had flowed in from various quarters, including international financial agencies like the World Bank and the ADB. Any hard measure, without revealing the quantum of aid received, would be `anti-people.'

The Centre should instead focus on recovering the outstanding dues in Income Tax, Central Excise and Customs Duty to meet the deficit. ``The Finance Minister had himself disclosed in Parliament that the outstanding dues amounted to Rs.62,000 crores, of which corporate tax alone had a share of Rs.28,000 crores. The amount is three times the estimated damage in Gujarat,'' Mr. Yechuri said.

His party also wanted two per cent surcharge on Income Tax to be based on a graded system to spare the tax-payers in the `lower- end' segment.

Mr. Yechuri warned that the domestic industry, particularly agriculture, would suffer if the Centre went ahead with its decision to lift quantitative restrictions on the proposed 714 items. The WTO had set 2003 as the deadline for such measures but the Government was rushing through them, apparently under pressure from the U.S. Seeking increase in import tariff to protect the domestic industry, he cited the example of Japan which had imposed 2,000 per cent import duty on rice.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Budget session: Cong. to pursue aggressive line
Next     : Pak. releases fishermen