Making a case for increased allocation to the social sector, Left parties will place their Budget wish list before the finance ministry next week. A meeting of the Left parties is to be convened shortly to fine-tune the proposals to be given to the government.
Left circles on Friday indicated that this year?s wish list will be a ?focused one? and pressure will be exerted on the Centre to improve the spending on its flagship schemes, including the ICDS and the NREGS.
The internal meetings of the Left parties have already started on the issue. Citing about a dozen Assembly elections this year, the Left wants the government to focus on ?pro-poor? measures in this budget to avoid ?electoral embarrassments? faced in states like Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
?The Left parties will meet soon and will prepare concrete proposals for resource mobilisation and fund allocation for the coming year,? CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu told FE. ?We will demand an increased spending for the schemes like ICDS and NREGS,? Basu said.
The CPI(M) has already made it clear that they will ask for reintroduction of capital gains tax and a hike in the Security Transaction Tax.