The Union Budget emphasises privatisation and helps corporates

The Union Budget emphasises privatisation and helps corporates. The 2022-23 budget has no scheme that could solve the problems faced by the poor, who are the majority of the country.

The budget, which boasts of having handed Air India to a private monopoly, announces that a private owner has been found to take over the public sector steel company Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) and that LIC shares will be sold.

The budget has not a single proposal to give relief to people in distress because of the spread of Covid. With a new variant of Covid spreading, more money should have been set aside to protect people's health. The revenue needed could have been raised by taxing the super-rich. At the very least, the corporate tax rate the Modi government cut should have been restored. But the budget has no proposal that would displease its corporate friends.

In a time of recession, the effort should be to raise people's purchasing power and increase government spending. The government is moving in the opposite direction. It is in this situation that unemployment is getting worse, and the budget has no proposal to create new jobs.

A legal framework fixing floor prices for agricultural produce is a demand farmers' organisations raised together. The government, which promised to consider it, has not kept its word. Moreover, the fertiliser subsidy, which was Rs 1,40,122 crore in the 2021-22 budget, has been cut to Rs 1,05,222 crore in the new budget. The food subsidy has been cut from Rs 2,86,469 crore in the current budget to Rs 2,06,831 crore, and the petroleum subsidy from Rs 6,517 crore to Rs 5,813 crore. Only a nominal increase has been made for agriculture and allied activities.

The agrarian crisis created by neoliberal policies has driven tens of thousands of farmers to suicide. The budget has not a single proposal to change this situation. Even with Covid spreading, the health sector has got only a nominal increase over the 2021-22 budget. The amount for rural development has been cut below the current budget.

The employment guarantee scheme, which had Rs 98,000 crore in the 2021-22 budget, has been cut to Rs 73,000 crore in the new budget. Nothing has been set aside for the school midday meal scheme. The crop insurance scheme fund, which was Rs 12,480 crore in the current budget, has been cut to Rs 4,000 crore.

A new scheme called PM Gati Shakti has been announced, aimed at the growth of the private sector. Like the 'Make in India' project, it is an announcement to throw dust in people's eyes. The Modi government's budget, which completely ignores the toiling people, workers and farmers, is thoroughly anti-people.

Com. Elamaram Kareem MP
General Secretary