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On fiscal deficit: The whole problem of fiscal deficit revolves around the government's non-serious attitude towards collection of taxes and the progressive increase in non-Plan expenditure in both Central and state Budgets. This is an unhealthy trend. It is time that we consciously made an attempt to curb non-Plan expenditure by exercising discipline.
Tax reforms: There is a need to expand the tax base and also improve its efficiency. Unfortunately, the percentage of direct tax collection in the country is going down while indirect tax collection is rising affecting the poor adversely. I feel that around 60 crore Indians can be brought under the tax net by improving criteria of identification of prospective tax payers and simplifying the mechanism of paying taxes. Strict measures should be taken to check evasion by corporates .
The rural rich should be taxed as there is no justification behind exempting them and there should also be taxes on agricultural farms owned by big industrialhouses. The concept of zero tax companies should be eliminated.India's WTO commitments: We want all foreign companies to be banned in the consumer goods sector because they will only create unemployment by raising their control over our consumer industry and neglecting small towns and metros.
The Congress had betrayed the country when it had signed the agreement in the Uruguay Round as it had neither included its intention to sign the treaty in its election agenda nor passed the move in the Parliament.
However, we shouldn't think that the harm cannot be undone now. There is growing resentment among several Third World countries on the outcome of the liberalised era and India should take advantage of the fact and bring about modifications in the agreement at the coming meet in Seattle.
The WTO, in its present form, will result in the developed countries controlling the entire economy of the developing countries. The agreement first started with trade and now it incorporates a large number of issuesincluding investment and structural arrangements. How many times are we expected to file cases when big companies try to usurp our traditional knowledge by filing patents? Do people know what a huge sum our country has to spend on litigation to protect what is rightfully ours?
Every government should control capital movement, export-import movement and domestic production.
Subsidies: Subsidy is necessary but it should be on selective items and for selective people. For an agricultural economy like ours, it is very important that we subsidise fertilisers and agricultural machinery. For a developing country, food subsidy is also very important. However, it has to be ensured that the benefits of subsidy reach the targetted people.
PSUs: We are strictly against privatisation. To put the PSUs back on their feet, a complete restructuring is required. Over the years, there has been a complete bureaucratisation of units resulting in bad performance. That is why PSUs have performed belowexpectation. If the PSUs are given functional autonomy, there is no reason why they will not perform well.
Financial sector reforms : There is an urgent need to stop the move to privatise banks and the insurance sector. Private banks will only cater to the rich and affluent sector and one cannot expect them to engage in priority sector funding.
By privatising the insurance sector, the government would give up an important sector of revenue generation. Expansion of the sector can be easily achieved by the government if it invests around 60 per cent of LIC's earnings for the purpose.
Defence: In a country where more than 50 per cent of the people are below poverty line, increasing defence expenditure cannot be justified. The problem of maintaining India's long border line can be solved by attempting to develop friendlier relations with our neighbours.
Small scale sector : The small sector in the country is not in a position to fight the cash-rich MNCs. To keep the sector going somesort of protection has to be maintained.
Centre-state relations: Federalism means that economic and political power should not only be delegated to states but also to districts and villages. The Centre must give more financial power to panchayats and municipalities.
Social sector: The country needs to concentrate on education of its masses. The government should mark it as a priority sector and let people know that it is spending money to irradicate illiteracy. This is the only way to tackle the problem.
Labour: The trade union movement has been completely wiped out and labour is being literally exploited. At the industry level all labour is hired on a casual basis and there is the rule of hire-and-fire. The government should put into place labour laws which would give at least some security to workers.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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