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'This Budget is blatantly elitist'

Professor M D Nanjundaswamy

We will not permit more Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald outlets in Bangalore. Our opposition was to Pepsico's memorandum of understanding with the export promotion board of the Government of India, to introduce modern livestock technology and increase meat exports.

This is when the mad cow disease is spreading in Europe and there is a great demand for Indian beef, which resulted in the activation of modern slaughterhouses. That led to depletion of Indian cattle. And that in turn meant destruction of small farms and small farmers in India. Which finally means disruption of the Indian economy.

With regard to the sell-off of 27 public sector units, the government is definitely losing control over domestic infrastructure, along with proposed changes in labour laws, facilitating easy retrenchment. This will result in mass unemployment.

Only cosmetic changes have been made to the agriculture sector, like a slight increase in import duties and payment of Rs 100 per month as old age pension to landless labourers after 60 years of age. These are only attempts to cushion anticipated unrest among the peasantry.

The Budget is definitely not pro-farmer. It is not unexpected, as the government is very obedient to the implementation of structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank, which is reflected in the abolition of subsidies to food and fertilisers, privatisation and downsizing of the government.

Since areas where burgeoning was possible under World Trade Organisation rules have been fraudulently occupied by the United States of America and European Union countries -- domestic support and tariff and market access -- the only way out for developing countries is to demand that agriculture be kept out of WTO, as it was before 1994.

The terming of a Budget as good or bad entirely depends on its relevance to the country. This Budget is blatantly elitist.

The subsidy on fertilisers has been cut, but not much. It is less by about five per cent, while food subsidy has been cut by 12 per cent. Looking at US and European Union countries, paying farmers huge amounts of "hidden subsidies", I don't see any reason why we should play along with their fraudulent game.

There is no change in import duties for cotton. There is no glut in the farming sector. We call ourselves self-reliant in food, by keeping 50 per cent of the population below the poverty line, and keeping them half hungry.

Labour laws have made retrenchment easy and just cushion consequent social unrest. The government is offering a one-year unemployment allowance to those who lose jobs, which is quite funny.

There is a very logical continuation to what the finance minister said last year, as the government has been very obedient to World Bank strictures.

Figures show that silk exports have come down. Garment exports have also come down. After April 1, 2001, silk exports may come down further.

The finance minister did not mention anything about the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 58. He only spoke about downsizing six ministries, including the finance ministry, and reduction of government staff by two per cent per annum.

The rate of retrenchment compensation and other benefits recommended by the finance minister in the Budget, related to workmen, is a miserable kind of handshake!

I am against the World Bank and government policy; planning and development without foreign aid. That's what self-respecting people should think about.

The Budget will not help the common man, as public distribution system prices have been increased and car and computer prices have come down!

With this Budget, the rich will become richer and the poor poorer. The divide will increase. This is actually a domestic programme of genocide.

There has been no discussion on taxing agricultural income or reducing farm subsidies, because there is no income in agriculture. It's a hot potato for any government to touch.

The people will definitely vote out the National Democratic Alliance government at the earliest opportunity, but the big question is, what will the next government do for the people?

There has been an increase in the number of people below the poverty line from last year. This trend will continue if the same policies are pursued.

It is high time the government realised that the so-called free trade economy is not free for all, but only free for developed countries, and opens an arena for them to continue with their fraudulent game of colonisation.

Professor M D Nanjundaswamy is president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha

Budget 2001

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