HIMANSHU SHEKHAR | हिमांशु शेखर

Himanshu Shekhar

UPA loves to sing the song of common man but their policies are showing the real picture. This has been proved once again in Union Budget 2010-11. In fact, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his second Budget of UPA 2, has done little for a common man. However, Mukherjee claimed in his Budget speech that he was concerned with improving the condition of the people but Budget documents are telling a different story.

What are the basic problems of an average Indian? No doubt, a common man is facing problem on the front of price rise, unemployment, education and health. Out of these problems, the crisis of rising prices is affecting the life of a common man very badly. In fact, Budget failed to introduce measures to curb rising food prices. Much expected steps to curb price rise was not seen in the Budget. Instead of announcing some steps to check the rising prices of essential goods, Mukherjee announced an increase in custom and excise duty on petroleum product. He announced in his budget speech, ‘I propose to restore the basic duty of 5 per cent on crude petroleum; 7.5 per cent on diesel and petrol and 10 per cent on other refined products. I also propose to enhance the Central Excise duty on petrol and diesel by Re.1 per litre each.’

It means that government is not willing to check the rising prices. That’s why oil ministry has announced that petrol prices will rise 6% and diesel prices will go up by 7.8%. In other words, Now one have to Rs. 2.71 more on a litre of petrol and Rs. 2.55 on a litre of diesel. Any surge in petroleum prices multiplies to price rise of essential goods. Experts are saying that fuel price rise would push up food inflation and they fear that high food prices may push broader inflation to 10% next month.

Economic analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta says, ‘The official wholesale price index is currently going up by close to 9% at present. What is particularly troubling for India’s poor is the sharp rise in food prices – the official index indicates that food price inflation has varied between 18% and 20% in recent weeks.’ He said, ‘Sugar prices have nearly tripled over the last year, while potato prices have almost doubled. Prices of edible oils, pulses, fruits and vegetables have also increased substantially: varying between 20% and 40%. Even the annual “Economic Survey” released by the ministry of finance, a day before the budget was presented, has all but acknowledged that poor management of supplies by various government agencies has contributed to high prices after 2009 witnessed inadequate rainfall.’

Finance minister has done nothing to give relief to common man. He has spent so many words on drawing a rosy picture for India’s economic development but he failed to address the basic problems of a common Indian. Thakurta says, ‘For many Indians, issues like a reduction in the fiscal deficit or the acceleration of GDP growth matter little in comparison to the big issue of food prices. In this respect Mr Mukherjee’s budget is likely to fall short of the expectations of the ordinary citizen.’

New policies are all set to increase the production cost of agriculture commodities because finance minister has announced to cut the size of fertilizer subsidies. The government has decided to give fertilizer subsidy of 49,980.73 crore for 2010-11. In 2009-10, this was at 52,980.25 crore. Reduction is fertilizer subsidy will result increase in production cost of agriculture sector and finally it will definitely have an adverse effect on food prices. It means, by cutting fertilizer subsidies, government is all set to fuel the rising prices of food grains.

This step of government may force farmers to leave farming and move to other works for livelihood. According to government estimates, 44 percent of Indian farmers are not interested in agriculture. Between just the Census of 1991 and that of 2001, nearly 8 million cultivators quit farming. The census of 2011 will tell us how many farmers quit farming in this decade. Farmers are not getting expected return on their investment in farming. Production cost of agriculture sector is increasing day by day but farmers are not getting better returns.

In 2008, UPA government has provided 71,000 crore through loan waiver scheme to agriculture sector but most of the farmers are still indebted and they are still commiting suicides. The loan waiver year of 2008 saw 16,196 farm suicides in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Compared to 2007, that’s a fall of just 436. It means, farmers are not getting the benefit of scheme like loan waiver. These schemes look very good in budget document but on ground level these schemes fails to deliver any difference. It doesn’t mean that there is no use of scheme like this. A scheme like farm loan waiver and easy credit to farmers at nominal rates can make a difference in agriculture sector but the way of implementation must be different. Government must keep these schemes away from corruption.

Mr Mukherjee has done less than expected for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Finance Minister announced during his budget speech, ‘MGNREGS completed four years of implementation during which it has been extended to all districts covering more than 4.5 crore households. The allocation for NREGA has been stepped up to Rs.40,100 crore in 2010-11.’ It means the scheme attribute for victory of UPA in general election of 2009 has got only Rs. 1000 crore more than the allocation of previous year. In 2009-10, an allocation of Rs.39,100 crore.

MGNREGS is facing so many problems on the front of implementation. Mr. Mukherjee has not mentioned any thing regarding improvement in implementation of this ambitious scheme. It means, no change is going to take place on ground level. No doubt, MGNREGS is an amazing scheme, which can change the life of villagers but the basic problem of this scheme is implementation. If government really wants to give benefits through this scheme to a rural household of country then implementation mechanism of MGNREGS must be improved.

Mr Mukherjee has changed the income tax slab. There will be no tax on the Income upto Rs.1.6 lakh. Those who are earning between Rs.1.6 lakh to Rs.5 lakh will have to pay income tax of 10 per cent. Income above Rs.5 lakh and upto Rs.8 lakh will be taxed 20 per cent. Those who are earning more tha Rs.8 lakh will have to pay income tax of 30 per cent. It means, relief came to middle and upper slab. No relief for common man in tax slab too. According to government estimates, around 2.79 crore individual taxpayers file income tax returns and one crore taxpayers fall in lower slab of 10 per cent. These one crore taxpayer belongs to UPA much loved common man class and Mr Mukherjee has done nothing for them.