The Hindu : Cong., Left pick holes in draft budget

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 11, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Cong., Left pick holes in draft budget

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Feb. 10. Draft budget proposals of the State Government have been termed anti-people by speakers at a seminar organised by the APCC here on Monday. All of them warned of the debt trap and sought to know how the Government proposed to tackle it.

The neglect of the key areas like irrigation, education and health came in for sharp criticism at the seminar. The Government withdrawing from vital areas would only affect people adversely, they said. They also questioned the lack of fiscal discipline and the tendency to rely heavily on external borrowings.

The State secretary of the CPI (M), B.V. Raghavulu, said ironically the draft budget proposals placed before people for discussion made a second hand reading as they had already been discussed by World Bank officials and other international funding agencies.

Secondly, the proposals did not make much sense as withdrawal of the Government from various sectors and PSUs and the practice of making allocations outside the budget made the exercise redundant. Reduction of fiscal deficit seemed to be the only aim, he said.

K. Narayana, assistant secretary of the AP State CPI Committee, bemoaned the neglect of the social welfare sector. Gradual reduction of its societal commitments and apathy towards the poor and the have-nots get amply reflected in the proposals, he said. The only credit the Government could take was the way it went about cornering loans.

Veteran journalists, P.Venkateswara Rao and V. Hanumantha Rao, highlighted the pitfalls in the proposals and questioned the motive behind the non-release of funds. Interest repayment and debt servicing were mounting and there was no solution in sight, they said wondering whether the State was not borrowing just to repay the interest.

The APCC leaders, M. Satyanarayana Rao, K. Rosaiah, Kesava Rao, J. Geeta Reddy and K.S.R. Murthy, said a careful perusal of the document showed that a certain financial discipline was lacking. The State's economy was ailing with no solution in sight, they said.

The cut in the proposals of the BC, SC, ST and Minority welfare would affect those sections severely, they said. If the Government had a real "Vision,'' it would be more practical in its outlook and make the necessary changes to the budget proposals. Continued neglect of the irrigation sector was dangerous as it would have a crippling effect on the economy, they said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Naxals kill Nalgonda MP's follower

Cong., Left pick holes in draft budget

Bandh: BJP rejects TDP plea

Eyewash, says Rosaiah

'DNA fingerprinting touching lives of ordinary people'

ABVP opposes hike in engg. courses fee

A bewitching show

Bureaucratic wrangles hitting police initiatives: Goud