Ahead of Budget, FM to get Left’s wishlist

Ahead of the Union Budget, the Left parties will be submitting a set of “concrete proposals” in 27 fields to the Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the first week of February. They will seek enhanced financial outlay and immediate attention to key areas like agriculture, health, education, unemployment and welfare of backward classes and minorities. The Left will also seek the extension of National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Scheme to 200 new districts.

This was agreed upon after the Left parties held an hour-long meeting for preliminary discussions on areas that they think need special attention. The meeting was attended by CPI(M) general-secretary Prakash Karat, CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, Abani Roy of the RSP and Debabrata Biswas of the Forward Bloc. “Today’s meeting was a preliminary discussion and a detailed list of proposals will be handed to the government in the first week of February,” said Raja.

“There are several problem areas like infrastructure for agriculture, suicides by farmers and irrigation needs. Seventy per cent of the people live in the country-side and their problems should be addressed,” said Biswas.

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The Left leaders were of the view that commitments made by the UPA government in the Common Minimum Programme in areas like agriculture, education, health and infrastructure development remained largely unfulfilled even after more than two-and-a-half years in power.

Another key area that is worrying the Left is the “growing unemployment” in the country and the parties want some concrete action on this front to provide more employment opportunities. The spiralling prices of essential commodities and a price cut in petroleum products will also figure in the proposals.