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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Budget ‘pro-rich’, say NAC members-Ruhi Tewari

Budget ‘pro-rich’, say NAC members-Ruhi Tewari

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published Published on Mar 4, 2013   modified Modified on Mar 4, 2013
-The Indian Express

Even as Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s Union Budget for 2013-14 is being touted as a ‘balanced’ budget, members of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) have criticised it for not having done enough for the social sector. They feel the budget, which comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due next year, falls short on delivering to the less advantaged groups and is relatively easy on the haves.

According to member N C Saxena, a former Planning Commission member, it is a “pro-rich” budget which has not spent enough on the welfare sector. “Instead of taxing only those with an income of over Rs 1 crore under the super-rich bracket, they should have lowered the bracket and taxed those with income above Rs 20-30 lakh...our tax-GDP ratio is extremely low...the government does not have enough money and hence had to deliver such a budget,” Saxena said.

Another member, Farah Naqvi, believes the budget “lacks clarity” and does not do enough for the disadvantaged sections. “The whole notion of a sub-plan for SC/STs is a misnomer because there is no additional allocation being made. It is merely an accounting exercise where funds are simply being diverted from the existing budget.... What are we really doing to reach out to the SC/STs and Dalits? It is the same problem with the minority allocation and gender budgeting. These are all just notional, accounting exercises. What we need are tailor-made plans for these groups,” Naqvi said.

Prof A K Shiva Kumar, another NAC member, says the budget has compromised on the health sector with an extremely small increase in the allocation to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The ministry has been allocated Rs 37,330 crore for financial year 2013-14, up from the budget estimate of Rs 34,488 in 2012-13, an increase of around 8 per cent.

“The increase in allocations for the social sectors have been disappointing. One way of looking at it is to argue that the Finance Minister has done his best given the slowing down of the growth rates and the need to contain the fiscal deficit. But the reality is that even when growth rates were much higher, the priority given to health in particular has been pathetic.... The government refuses to acknowledge that without universal health care funded by taxation...we will, as a nation, continue to rely on private health care as a default option. This has proven to be disastrous across the world. We can’t afford it financially as a nation,” Kumar said.

The Indian Express, 4 March, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/budget-prorich-say-nac-members/1082608/


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