Centre gets ready to face Left, Right attack

      New Delhi: As Parliament convenes tomorrow for the stormy Budget Session, the Centre is readying itself to face the Opposition's onslaught in a determined fashion. Outside ally, the Left and the opposition BJP have already decided to keep the government on its toes. Alerted by this fact, the Prime Minister is meeting his Council of Ministers tonight and is expected to announce the government's stand on issues that could invite stiff criticism from the opposition. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's meeting with his 79 ministers will also be an exercise in convincing them to speak in one voice. Wednesday's movefollows the UPA coordination meeting held on Tuesday where the coalition partners resolved to "project a united image of the UPA government from the floor of the House." While the opposition BJP comforted the UPA Government by conditionally supporting its decision on the Iran vote, the confrontation by the Left on this issue is being perceived to be more damaging for the government in some quarters. The meeting of the Council of Ministers is generally not held on a regular basis owing to its large size.

     The Council of Minister consists of 34 Cabinet rank ministers, seven ministers of Independent charge and 38 Ministers of State. In the past the exercise has always been positive as it helps the ministers to be well informed about issues and the government's policies. The government is facing criticism fover the anti-Iran vote, the stumbling Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Energy Cooperation deal, the defreezing of Italian buisinessman Quattrochhi's bank accounts and the Supreme Court indictment of it in the Bihar dissolution case. The trajectories of Left and BJP to take on the UPA government will remain different. While the BJP has decided to question the treasury on issues like defreezing the accounts of Quattrochi, the alleged indiscretion by Election Commissioner Navin Chawala besides the Supreme Court's strictures in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case, the Left is likely to encircle the government on the issue of India's Iran vote, the move to introduce FDI in retail and the July 18 civilian nuclear deal with US. The three-month-long Budget session is likely to be a stormy one as the Left leaders have threatened that "by March six, we will discuss, after that we will decide". Parliament may see a no-confidence motion being moved against the government by the Samajwadi Party (SP). SP is already trying to mobilise support for this motion among different political parties to which the political analysts have referred as "striving for a Third Front". Though the Left have denied supporting this motion, it is a well known fact that in politics "nothing is consistent ".

BJP squares up for `Budget' clash in Parliament
by Ashok Dixit

     New Delhi: Political temparatures have begun to rise a day before the commencement of the three-month-long Budget Session of Parliament, with the BJP today issuing a statement pointing out ten areas of government lacunae. Seeking to make the Union Cabinet's meeting on Wednesday evening as discomforting as possible, the BJP said that the fiscal projections of the Manmohan Singh Government over the past two years suggested that all was not well with the programmes initiated or those that are to be activated by the ruling dispensation. Accusing the Government of usurping its agenda under a different nomenclature, the BJP said that the ruling UPA would have to address the ten issues for which financial outlays had already been committed within a specific time frame.

   Commenting on the Government's committment to guarantee employment for all, it said that in the last one year nothing had been done to generate both urban and rural employment. It further went on to say that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREG) was a rehash of the Food for Work Programme and several other programmes, most of which have been delayed or introduced in a truncated form. "Our estimate is that while the Union Budget had allocated Rs. 11,000 crores for NRGS, the actual expenditure has been far less and the additional allocation is in fact less than Rs 2000 crs. We call upon the UPA Government to address this issue in a forthright manner," the main opposition party said. On the issue of promoting education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the BJP said it was the brain child of the previous NDA government, and therefore, the UPA Government was not doing anything new. On Bharat Nirman, it said: "The goals set out for achievement by 2009 have remained far from realization and an amount of Rs 100,000 crores investment was promised. We demand a specific year by year road map in order that schemes like this will have some credibility." On the issue of the interlinking of Indian rivers, it said that the NDA had during its tenue conceived a holistic approach to water resources and fund management, only to see UPA Government dropping it or replacing it with a limited pilot project, the details of which were still unknown. It also said that the Government's National Urban Renewal Mission, which was conceived in 2005, with an outlay of Rs. 5,500 crore, was yet to get off. "We call upon the UPA Government to tackle the problems of Urban India on a war footing with time bound implementation plans in this Budget," it said.

    The Union Budget 2005 had announced a Special Purpose Vehicle to be set up for funding critical infrastructure projects, the BJP said, but sadly, "there is no progress in this critical area also and infrastructure in the form of power availability, ports, airports has deteriorated." It also said that everyone knew that about 69 percent of the population depended on agriculture, as this the sector contributes 23 percent to the GDP. It was, therefore, sad to note that the plan allocations for agriculture under the present regime were so miniscule. It further went on to recommend an eight-point plan to rejuvenate the sector. A ceiling on the interest rates charged on loans to this sector at six percent Charging of interest at half yearly rests on such loans Fixing a minimum credit deposit ratio for every state so that there is no flight of credit from rural to urban areas. Provision of farm inputs at lower rates to small and marginal farmers Enlarging the scope of procurement to include more crops Enlarging the scope of Crop Insurance scheme. Effective implementation of Farm Insurance scheme. Supply of uninterrupted power to cold storage units.

     On the issue of housing, the BJP called upon the UPA Government to: Put a ceiling on Housing loan interest upto Rs.10 lacs to seven percent as high interest rates will kill this crucial sector. Remove service tax on cooperative housing societies and Increase the tax benefit under for housing loan interest to Rs 2 lacs. In concluding, it said that it was oncerned at the enormous increase in tax burden, especially over the Government's move to expand the scope of service tax in an unprecedented manner. It also criticised the Government for introducing new taxes like the Securities Transaction Tax, the Fringe Benefit Tax and Cash Withdrawal Tax. "Promises of simplification of tax administration are a farce," it said and urged the following taxation measures: Reduce customs and excise duties on petroleum products Increase the threshold for levying service tax to Rs 10 lacs Remove Cash Withdrawal Tax as it has not been effective. Withdraw Fringe Benefit Tax as it is not an income tax but an expenditure tax and burdens even those who have no taxable income. Simplify tax laws and reduce sections that lead to harassment and encourage inspector raj. It claimed that the Prime Minister's talk of a Savings Rate in excess of 30 percent of the GDP was also a farce, and suggested the following measures: Increase the overall limit under 80C to Rs 2 lacs Increase the IT exemption for women to Rs 1,50,000 per annum Increase the IT exemption for senior Citizens to Rs 2,00,000 per annum. In order to help the common man, make dividends from debt mutual funds free of Distribution tax. To ensure that this is not misused , limit this exemption to Rs 1 lac per assessee and make the dividend income from debt mutual funds above Rs 1 lac fully taxable.

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