Budget for deceptions

An analysis of this year8217;s budget by JNU professor Prabhat Patnaik, a key figure in the CPM8217;s group on economic affairs, pinpoints...

An analysis of this year8217;s budget by JNU professor Prabhat Patnaik, a key figure in the CPM8217;s group on economic affairs, pinpoints inadequacies in the document from the Left8217;s standpoint: little done on resource mobilisation, a reluctance to tax the rich, a cut in the grant component to states that would necessitate state governments to approach the financial market and agencies like the World Bank. Patnaik believes that the net addition on resource mobilisation has been done in a manner that will have a regressive impact on the economy. For instance, he writes, while excise duties on cars have been reduced and aerated drinks made cheaper, the service tax rate has been increased as also the cess on domestically produced service tax. The increase in tax-GDP ratio, which the Left had proposed, was actually because 8220;revenues have simple fallen on their government8217;s laps8221;. This is because during the liberalisation period there has been a dramatic increase in the share of surplus in income in the economy, and revenues came because the marginal rate of taxation on the whole was higher than the average tax-ratio for income as a whole. The budget has little to offer in the social sector development, education and agriculture. 8220;This budget has more than the usual quota of tall claims and deceptions,8221; writes Patnaik.

In the rear-view mirror

The Left Uncensored best describes the People8217;s Democracy report on the March 2 anti-Bush rally in Delhi. If West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee got into a scrap with US Ambassador David Mulford for calling President George Bush the leader of the world8217;s biggest pack of killers, speakers at the rally seemed to be revelling in the theme. 8220;Devil Bush8221;, 8220;Killer Bush8221; and 8220;War Criminal8221; were some of the invectives hurled at the US president. Quoting CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan the report says, 8220;He revealed that the Left parties had told the Prime Minister on his face that Bush is not our guest as he is a killer who slaughtered lakhs of people in Iraq.8221; However, there is an attempt to airbrush what actually happened at the rally. No mention is made of how Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav used the podium to attack the Congress. But it does quote him on his call to the Left to put in place a third front 8212; the Left calls it 8220;third alternative8221;.

A call to colour

While West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was 8220;embarrassed8221; about election graffiti in his constituency, according to People8217;s Democracy, there are ripples in the ranks of political parties in Bengal following the ban on graffiti. Graffiti, posters and splashes of colour have been an 8220;intimate part of the election campaign in Bengal for decades now8221;. The Left does not want a confrontation with the Election Commission but the CPM8217;s state secretary, Anil Biswas, has sought clarifications on how a political party was expected to conduct its campaign. The party evidently believes that they have the support of the people on this. The report says party flags and bunting 8220;fluttering in the breeze across the skyline of the city Kolkata would gladden the hearts and minds of any citizen8221;. The report also says that as far as the Left is concerned, the consent of residents is taken before posters are pasted on walls. It is doubtful that all Kolkatans will back this claim.

Struck before the strike

The March 1 all-India strike by Central government employees was called off after the government8217;s decision to appoint the Sixth Pay Commission. On their 20-point demand for better working conditions too, the demands were discussed and conclusions reached, a statement from the Joint Council of Action of Central Government employees says. After the airport strike, this was supposed to have been the next big thing from trade unions. The government appears to have bought more time on this front.

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar