With just a cursory reference to limiting subsidies, the Congress party’s election manifesto has promised a whole new bag of goodies including right to homestead, universal pension and expanding the food security programme to include pulses and cooking oil if it is voted back to power. The manifesto, which was released just two weeks ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, also promises to build a “national consensus” on reservation for scheduled castes and tribes in the private sector. But, analysts have pointed out that such spending would impact the fiscal deficit that the document pledges to keep under three per cent. “Social sector spending by any government or political party is not bad per se but then such an agenda should also be backed with a clear cut vision for funding them,” said Sunil Sinha, director (public finance), India Ratings. For instance, the Centre’s total subsidy bill for the next fiscal is projected at Rs 2,55,708 crore of which food subsidy is pegged at Rs 1,15,000 crore, marking a 25 per cent jump over the previous fiscal. Expanding the food security programme to include subsidised pulses and cooking oil for beneficiaries of Antyodaya Anna Yojana would inflate the subsidy bill by at least one-fourth putting serious pressure on the fiscal deficit that is pegged at an ambitious 4.1 per cent in FY15. Instead, it has proposed introducing user charges for better public utilities such as uninterrupted power supply and better train services that can be then spent on other schemes. Significantly, the document makes just a passing reference to curbing price rise that has remained consistently on the higher side under the UPA-II tenure. Instead the Congress chose to hark on previous achievements and promising to return to 8 per cent GDP growth trajectory over the next three years. While promising to follow the 10-point agenda outlined in the Interim Budget, the manifesto has committed itself to a 10 per cent growth in manufacturing and spurring exports. The 15-point agenda by the party for socio-economic and political transformation has also promised to accelerate job creation and skill development, spur manufacturing, enable flexible labour laws, promote foreign direct investment in the country. Interestingly, the document also promises to improve infrastructure by investing $1 trillion in the sector in the coming decade even though this is the same target for infrastructure investments in the ongoing Five-Year Plan. The manifesto also includes a 10 point agenda that a Congress led government will fulfill in the first 100 days of forming the next government. Retro tax wasn’t right: Jairam New Delhi: Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has said the retrospective tax, like the one imposed on Vodafone, wasn’t a correct decision. The Congress party manifesto has noted that “We will ensure that the unpredictable risk of retroactive taxation is avoided”. The tax imposed in Budget FY12 had led to a flight of capital from the Indian stock markets. The minister, who is a key contributor to the party manifesto, said a priority for the Congress, if re-elected will be to implement its six-point charter of pro-poor measures, including the right to affordable healthcare and housing. ENS
