16-31 Mar, 2010 - Bharatiya Janata Party
16-31 Mar, 2010 - Bharatiya Janata Party 16-31 Mar, 2010 - Bharatiya Janata Party
In a cabinet system, there is an element of collectiveresponsibility. The Prime Minister as the head of theCabinet is more responsible than his other distinguishedcolleague. When you are in a slowdown situation, pricesare bound to come down and world over we saw almostnegligible or negative rates of inflation. But even duringthe slowdown period, food inflation was one factor,which in India continued to rise. There were sectorswhere people were losing jobs, the manufacturers werenot able to sell their products and despite inadequateor reduced economic activity and less money in thepocket of the consumer, which should have essentiallyled to prices coming down, we still had food pricesgoing up. The food price inflation now moves betweenNow, we do find that we just cannot rely on onemeasure of inflation. The main reason is that the WPIdoes not have that much impact on food as the CPI has.The Government must seriously consider having oneprice index which actually gives the factual situation,rather than give us a fictional figure which tells theconsumer that prices have come down, but the factualsituation has worsened. The Government has to act. IfGovernments can’t act, the Governments must perish.17 and 19 per cent. Can’t this Government anticipateshortages if there is a supply side problem and takeaction or preemptive action in time? Or is thisGovernment primarily involved in the exercise of findingalibis for its own failures and finding some reason or theother why the prices are going up, and, therefore, theGovernment itself is not responsible? Or is thisGovernment merely adopting a ‘do nothing’ approach?We are facing a situation where the Government’sinability to control inflation is almost like unlegislatedtax on the people. A large part of your income today isbeing spent on account of this unprecedented pricerise. It has crossed a century as far as the dal prices areconcerned. It has crossed a half century as far as sugarprices are concerned. Is this the performance as far asthis Government is concerned?We are told that we had a drought this year and onaccount of drought this year we had 18 million tons lessof food production. Therefore, the drought situationaffected the prices. This is the first alibi which is beinggiven. Claim of this Government that we have adequatestocks is not true. We are now told that well there is alot of future trading which was started when the NDAwas in power. These are all experiments to be doneMarch 16-31, 2010 20when you are dealing with a surplus economy onfoodgrain. You can’t afford to have those experimentsof a surplus economy when you are in a scarcityeconomy and therefore, the Government should haveanticipated the scarcity and gone in for a policy changebecause circumstances now have changed.We should not start blaming the State Governmentsfor price rise and put the ball in the court of the ChiefMinisters. Suggestions were also made that non-UPAChief Ministers are not co-operating, you need tocrackdown as far as hoarding is concerned, etc. If yousee the data you will know that 83 per cent of the raidsand searches took place in States which have non-UPAGovernments and 17 per cent took place in States whichhave UPA Governments. You now, saythat the sugar industry is also in astrange kind of crisis of its own. Whatkind of policy manipulation taking placeas far as sugar industry was concerned?On 15th February, 2010, you allowedexport of 10,000 tones of sugar to Europewhen there is scarcity in the market,because you have an internationalcommitment. You cancelled it becauseinterference by media. It is said thatalmost 9 lakh tones of sugar is lying atKandla and other different ports andawaiting for processing. Will the Government bringthat sugar in market in order to bring down the prices?The MSP increases are intended to compensatethe farmers but the long-term impact of increase in MSPis not what the Government seems to be arguing. Itsays that immediate short-term an MSP increase maycontribute to an increase in prices. The Governmenthas run out of the ideas as to how to deal with thesituation, but it has also become a little insensitive. Yousay that consumption patterns have changed. Peopleare eating more. People are no longer starving. As faras the prices of oil are concerned, the Government hasimposed various kinds of duties contributing to inflation.The consumer is hit in two ways. He pays more for hispetrol, diesel and kerosene oil, and on the other hand,he pays more on account of various duties on petroleumproducts. The Government should say that it would notmake any unjust profiteering as far as the increase inthe price of oil is concerned. But the Governmentdoesn’t have that policy. Today the gulf between theConsumer Price Index and the Wholesale Price Index,has widened. Now, we do find that we just cannot relyon one measure of inflation. The main reason is that theWPI does not have that much impact on food as the CPI
has. The Government must seriously consider havingone price index which actually gives the factualsituation, rather than give us a fictional figure whichtells the consumer that prices have come down, but thefactual situation has worsened. The Government has toact. If Governments can’t act, the Governments mustperish.Increase agricultural productionto curb price rise : M. Rama JoisPrice rise is a very serious problem affecting thewhole nation. This has not happened at once. It hasbeen a cumulative effect ofwrong policies followed overthe years. India’s mainoccupation has beenagriculture. The importancethat should have been givento agriculture has not beengiven. In every village, therewas a prescription, in the earlierlaws that there should besufficient land reserved for Gomath for the pasture ofanimal, i.e. cattle wealth.Unfortunately, the Gomaths are disappearing. Ifwe had protected the cattle wealth, there would havebeen no occasion for spending so much on chemicalfertilizers. The share of cows in the GDP was 6.01 percent. But, allocation in the Budget for cows is 0.115 percent. Even though we derive so much of income fromcow, we are not investing for betterment of cattle wealth.We call cow as Gomata. Cow dung and cow urinals aretreated as pujya.Therefore, there is a directive under the DirectivePrinciple of State Policy under Article 48 that thereshould be a total ban on cow slaughter. Therefore, theneed of the hour is, we must not only reserve land forpasture of cattle but also made special agriculture zoneso that it can be used for agriculture. SupportersThere is exodus from villages. Lands are becomingfallow as they are not being cultivated. We must improvethe standard of living, health and all other things invillages so that villages do not leave villages and cometo towns. The cows are being slaughtered every yearand also, exported to Bangladesh. In such a situation,our agriculture cannot improve and we cannot havemore production also to enable the prices come down.•Fuel price hike unjustified economically and morally : JavadekarPress Statement issued by BJP National Spokesperson Shri Prakash Javadekar MPThe Prime Minister, Sh.Manmohan Singh’sstatement that fuel price hikewon’t be rolled back shows that heis oblivious to the pains andsufferings of the people, who arealready reeling under inflationarypressure.He is taking people for grantedas elections are behind them. Hisstatement that this “price hikeshould be absorbed by theeconomy”, is also downright breachof faith with the Aam Aadmi andsmacks of arrogance.BJP condemns Govt. attitudetowards rollback in the face of clearmajority of parliament, which hasalready protested this price hike. Itwas not only NDA but also Left andsupporting allies of UPA like SP,BSP and RJD, who walked outMarch 16-31, 2010 21spontaneously after thisprice hike was announcedin the house. Further, theUPA partners like TMCand DMK have alsoprotested the proposedhike and demanded arollback. Instead of beingsympathetic to thismajority view, the PrimeMinister chose to add salton the wounds.Petrol and Diesel price hike isneither economically nor morallyjustified.This hike is bound to havecascading effect and will furtherraise the prices of transport and allthe goods across the board. Govt.has also indicated that it willdismantle the administered pricemechanism and has authorizedpetroleum ministry todecide on therecommendations of theKirit Parikh Committee.This will definitely burdenpeople further with yetanother unbearable hike indays to come.BJP has already beenprotesting against the foodprice inflation and willintensify its agitation till Govt. takescredible action to tame the inflation.People were expecting relief inthe form of more subsidies in PDSso that they would get rice, wheat,edible oil, pulses and sugar atreasonable price. But the budget hasonly disappointed them. Instead ofrelief now they have got a shockerin the form of price hike and PM’sjustification of it.•
- Page 2 and 3: to the service of the people. He th
- Page 4 and 5: Kindling a movementBy Arun JaitleyN
- Page 6 and 7: and particularly of Indira Gandhihe
- Page 8 and 9: LOK SABHADiscussion on the Motion o
- Page 10 and 11: UPA failed comprehensivelyon all fr
- Page 12 and 13: Generalise advisories are taken cas
- Page 14 and 15: Discussion on Price RiseLOK SABHALe
- Page 16 and 17: is also procured by the Government
- Page 20 and 21: BJP on BudgetAam aadmi dumped by aa
- Page 22 and 23: A post-budget discussion by CA Cell
- Page 24 and 25: Budget : States VoicesUnion Budget
- Page 26 and 27: State ReportsFrom Our Correspondent
- Page 28: ProformaNation-wide signature campa
has. The Government must seriously consider havingone price index which actually gives the factualsituation, rather than give us a fictional figure whichtells the consumer that prices have come down, but thefactual situation has worsened. The Government has toact. If Governments can’t act, the Governments mustperish.Increase agricultural productionto curb price rise : M. Rama JoisPrice rise is a very serious problem affecting thewhole nation. This has not happened at once. It hasbeen a cumulative effect ofwrong policies followed overthe years. India’s mainoccupation has beenagriculture. The importancethat should have been givento agriculture has not beengiven. In every village, therewas a prescription, in the earlierlaws that there should besufficient land reserved for Gomath for the pasture ofanimal, i.e. cattle wealth.Unfortunately, the Gomaths are disappearing. Ifwe had protected the cattle wealth, there would havebeen no occasion for spending so much on chemicalfertilizers. The share of cows in the GDP was 6.01 percent. But, allocation in the Budget for cows is 0.115 percent. Even though we derive so much of income fromcow, we are not investing for betterment of cattle wealth.We call cow as Gomata. Cow dung and cow urinals aretreated as pujya.Therefore, there is a directive under the DirectivePrinciple of State Policy under Article 48 that thereshould be a total ban on cow slaughter. Therefore, theneed of the hour is, we must not only reserve land forpasture of cattle but also made special agriculture zoneso that it can be used for agriculture. SupportersThere is exodus from villages. Lands are becomingfallow as they are not being cultivated. We must improvethe standard of living, health and all other things invillages so that villages do not leave villages and cometo towns. The cows are being slaughtered every yearand also, exported to Bangladesh. In such a situation,our agriculture cannot improve and we cannot havemore production also to enable the prices come down.•Fuel price hike unjustified economically and morally : JavadekarPress Statement issued by BJP National Spokesperson Shri Prakash Javadekar MPThe Prime Minister, Sh.Manmohan Singh’sstatement that fuel price hikewon’t be rolled back shows that heis oblivious to the pains andsufferings of the people, who arealready reeling under inflationarypressure.He is taking people for grantedas elections are behind them. Hisstatement that this “price hikeshould be absorbed by theeconomy”, is also downright breachof faith with the Aam Aadmi andsmacks of arrogance.BJP condemns Govt. attitudetowards rollback in the face of clearmajority of parliament, which hasalready protested this price hike. Itwas not only NDA but also Left andsupporting allies of UPA like SP,BSP and RJD, who walked out<strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>16</strong>-<strong>31</strong>, <strong>2010</strong> 21spontaneously after thisprice hike was announcedin the house. Further, theUPA partners like TMCand DMK have alsoprotested the proposedhike and demanded arollback. Instead of beingsympathetic to thismajority view, the PrimeMinister chose to add salton the wounds.Petrol and Diesel price hike isneither economically nor morallyjustified.This hike is bound to havecascading effect and will furtherraise the prices of transport and allthe goods across the board. Govt.has also indicated that it willdismantle the administered pricemechanism and has authorizedpetroleum ministry todecide on therecommendations of theKirit Parikh Committee.This will definitely burdenpeople further with yetanother unbearable hike indays to come.BJP has already beenprotesting against the foodprice inflation and willintensify its agitation till Govt. takescredible action to tame the inflation.People were expecting relief inthe form of more subsidies in PDSso that they would get rice, wheat,edible oil, pulses and sugar atreasonable price. But the budget hasonly disappointed them. Instead ofrelief now they have got a shockerin the form of price hike and PM’sjustification of it.•
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