Budget

Budget (General)

Sir. I rise to discuss the Budget 2011-12. The Economic Survey 2010-11 had anticipated that the Indian economy would register growth of around 9 per cent, plus or minus 0.25 per cent, in 2011-12, almost reverting to the pre-crisis levels achieved during the three-year period, from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Now, the economy is expected to register a growth rate of 6.9 per cent in 2011-12 as per the Advance Estimates released by the Central Statistics Office on 7th February, 2012. According to the Economic Survey, a part of the reason for the slowdown lies in global factors, particularly the crisis in the Euro zone area and near-recessionary conditions prevailing in Europe, sluggish growth in many other industrialized countries like the USA, stagnation in Japan and hardening international prices of crude oil which always has a large effect on India and, of course, also due to domestic factors. Ultimately, the Survey suggested that there is need to be innovative in terms of policy. But, the Finance Minister failed to spell the innovation in the policies in the Budget.

At sectoral level, growth is estimated to be 2.5 per cent for 2011- 12 for agriculture and allied sectors as against 7 per cent achieved in 
2010-11. This has to be seen against the backdrop of continuing losses to farmers and farmers’ suicides. This is in spite of the fact that India has the largest agricultural land area in the world. The country is not able to encash this situation. China has lesser agriculture land area than India and still it produces more agro products than India. Productivity per acre is much more there than India. There are no policies to protect the farmers and increase productivity in agriculture and related areas including dairy. Whenever and wherever there is higher production, the Government allows it to rot due to lack of storage and transport facilities. The ultimate sufferer is the farmer from any angle. The Finance Minister fails to address appropriately innovative measures as spelt out in the Economic Survey.

The hon. Finance Minister has said that the total agriculture credit for 2012-13 will be increased to Rs. 5,75,000 crore. It is surprising to note that nothing much has benefited the farmers through this credit in the previous years. There is a total flop of this scheme. There must be some problem in the implementation. I am given to understand that not even 50 per cent of the farmers are benefited by the credit. There is no let-up to the farmers’ suicides.As a matter of fact, the farmers are not looking for this kind of creditsor doles. They are expecting to have some sustainable measures for supporting them. Today, I have read that Bt. Cotton is one of the reasons for the suicides. It is not giving proper yield, leading to losses to the farmers. This has been accepted by the Union Government itself in a note to the States. There should be a total review of the high yielding varieties. The Government should have been focused on improving the efficiency in the agriculture sector.

In regard to fuel prices, this Government has increased the petrol prices several times during the last year. The Government should think of balancing economy with fuel prices and the resultant growth. I do not know what the Government is doing to increase the indigenous resources so that India does not have to depend much on foreign imports. We are still not doing anything on the renewable sources and there is no imprint of the Finance Minister on this front.

Credibility is the next issue. Ever since the 2G Scam has been detected, this Government has lost credibility on all fronts.

Now there is a plethora of scams being faced by this Government and the latest being the coal mining scam involving a loss of Rs. ten lakh crore. I do not want to comment on this latest scam as the final report of the CAG is yet to come. Because of the scams, it appears that the Government is in inertia and the leadership is weak.

The Economic Survey projected fiscal deficit to fall to 4.5 per cent in 2011 and 4.1 per cent in 2012. But I would like to mention that the total deficit of the Centre and the States crosses nine per cent. India being a developing economy, with around 50 per cent people below the poverty line, how can the country withstand the deficit while taking welfare measures? Here comes the role of innovative measures as spelt out by the Economic Survey.

Health is another important indicator of human development. People largely remain outside the public health facilities as the quality of services in government hospitals has not improved. People mostly depend on private healthcare providers. But what about the BPL families? I am given to understand that the so-called middle-class families sell their properties for treatment. But there is no answer to this from the Finance Minister. The expenditure on health increased from 1.25 per cent in 2006-07 to only 1.30 per cent in 2011-12. The total budget for the Health Ministry during 2012-13 is Rs.30,700 crore as against Rs.25,250 crore last year. The marginal increase is not going to make significant improvement in the health infrastructure. The NRHM Scheme started by the Government is fraught with several flaws and is infested by corruption and scams. Special budgetary provision is necessary to be provided as a one-time measure for overall improvement in the health infrastructure. This has never happened so far. Unless people are healthy, how can they work, earn and survive? The Finance Minister should have focused more on improving sustainable growth and sustainable measures in agriculture, healthcare and education. He is completely silent on it and there is no comment on these issues. With this, I oppose the Budget. Thank you, Sir.