Economic revival, 'aam admi' focus of India's budget

New Delhi: Seeking to address what he described as triple challenges, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today presented a revival-oriented budget with more funds for welfare schemes and infrastructure, a promise to restore India's high economic growth and better delivery mechanisms to reach the fruits of development to the poorest. Amid high hopes from industry and the average citizen alike, the budget also promised new incentives to farmers, a big hike in funds for projects with emphasis on rural reconstruction and employment, more allocation for urban development and a fresh impetus to energy security. During his 100-minute budget speech in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee promised a national food security act soon to give 25 kg of rice or wheat per month to the poor at a subsidised price of Rs.3 per kg while promising a 40-percent hike in the health insurance scheme for people below the poverty line. Dressed in a smart white bandgala suit, the 73-year-old politician - who had presented his last budget as finance minister in the Indira Gandhi government 25 years ago - said the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government would continue to push its agenda of ensuring "inclusive growth and equitable development" while also meeting the "rising expectations of a young India". "The government also recognises the challenges," Mukherjee said, referring to the task involved in countering the decline of India's high growth rate to 6.7 percent in the past year from over 9 percent in the preceding three. "The first challenge is to bring back the GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate to over 9 percent per annum," he said, setting the tone of what is his fourth career budget watched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He said the other challenges included better governance and ensuring that the fruits of development reached across regions to touch the lives of every citizen - the "aam admi" (the common man) as he called them. "The finance minister has done an admirable job," the prime minister said, soon after the budget was presented in the Lok Sabha. "The main aim of the budget is to minimise the impact of global recession," Manmohan Singh added. "Overall, the strategy of the budget is to ensure that our economy recaptures the rhythm of the accelerated growth process. Simultaneously, it seeks to honour in large measure, the commitments we have made to our people." The proposals, however, did not go down well with the stock markets, with the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange falling by over 900 points, or more than 6 percent. However, India Inc, by and large, welcomed the proposals given the circumstances, but hoped for some more tax sops, while expecting a more definitive pronouncement in the area of selling government stake in state-run enterprises. Mukherjee kept the corporate tax rate unchanged, even as the budget sought to reduce the burden on industry by abolishing commodities transaction tax and the fringe benefit tax but hiked the minimum alternate tax to 15 percent of book profits from 10 percent. The finance minister also promised a pan-India goods and services tax from April next year and gave 100 percent tax deductions to political donations while assuring both short-term and medium-term steps to counter the negative fallout of the global slowdown. In tax matters, the budget sought to raise income tax exemption limits for senior citizens by Rs.15,000 and for women and other tax payers by Rs.10,000 each, while the 10 percent surcharge on personal tax was scrapped altogether. Mukherjee said infrastructure would also be a priority, especially in areas like roads, highways and energy. "I, on my part, will ensure that sufficient funds are made available to these sectors." The finance minister also said the universal identity card plan would be operational in 12-18 months and the process would begin to hand over biometric smart cards to 1.17 billion Indian citizens. He said the total central government expenditure for the current fiscal year had been stepped up to Rs.10,20,800 crore ($204 billion) and compared it with Rs.193 crore ($3 billion) that was projected in the country's first budget over six decades ago. Mukherjee said with industry still under the grip of global recession, he was providing additional incentives in the form of both direct and indirect taxes. He enhanced the customs duty on items like set-top boxes, LCD televisions and premium textile goods to encourage domestic production and value addition. He also reduced the excise duties on large vehicles and trucks. The proposals on direct taxes, he said, would be revenue neutral, while indirect taxes would yield Rs.2,000 crore for the full fiscal. Yet, Mukherjee hopes to step up the non-plan expenditure by 37 percent to Rs.6,95,689 crore (Rs.6,956 billion/$140 billion) over the 2008-09 and plan expenditure by 34 percent to Rs.3,25,149 crore (Rs.3,251.49 billion/$65 billion). The total increase in expenditure, thus, is 36 percent, he said, as he kept the total borrowings at a high level, that will push up the country's fiscal deficit to 6.8 percent of GDP from 6 percent for 2008-09. Mukherjee said the government will have to overcome all obstacles and create a brave new India. "As we begin this five-journey, the road ahead will not be easy. We will have to manage uncertainties and there will be as many problems as there would be solutions."

Budget anti-poor and serves Congress' interests: Raman

Raipur/New Delhi: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today termed the union budget as "anti-poor" and aimed to serve the Congress party's "political interests". Singh, who is in New Delhi, told reporters that the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament "is anti-poor. The budget has taken care of the Congress party's political interests rather than addressing the problems of common people". "There is no budgetary announcement for people of poor states such as Chhattisgarh. Even my demand for increasing the minimum assured job days to 150 from 100 days under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for tribal areas was not incorporated," Singh stated. However, the state's opposition Congress described the budget as "growth-oriented". "It's a growth-oriented and balanced budget. The Congress-led union government has made the best effort to address the problems of common people and farmers. It will surely boost the agriculture sector as well as industry," Ravindra Choubey, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, told reporters.

Congress also responsible for Babri demolition: Mayawati

Lucknow: Asking the central government to make public the Liberhan Commission report, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday alleged that the Congress was as much responsible as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. "Timely intervention by the Congress, which was ruling at the centre at that time, could have prevented the demolition of the Babri Masjid," Mayawati told reporters here. Even after it received information from various intelligence agencies and other sources that the BJP and its allies were planning to raze the mosque, the Congress preferred to look the other way, she added. "Had the Congress acted on the information provided by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Babri Masjid demolition would not have taken place," Mayawati said. "The Congress should have acted against the BJP, which was ruling Uttar pradesh then. Such an intervention could have prevented the riots and communal clashes that erupted in various parts of the country (after the mosque demolition)," Mayawati claimed. Asking the central government to make public the Liberhan Commission report, submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the day, Mayawati said she hoped that the report would also shed light on the involvement of the Congress in the mosque demolition. "The report should be made public as it would be in the interest of transparency," said Mayawati, adding that those indicted by the probe panel should be punished severely. "Now, the entire country will watch the action the central government takes against those involved in the demolition. Now, it is to be seen whether the central government would be able to muster the courage needed to punish the guilty," she said. The panel headed by Justice (retd) M.S. Liberhan was set up in 1992 to investigate the Dec 6, 1992, demolition of the 16th century mosque that led to widespread communal violence. Hindu rightwing groups maintain that the mosque was built on the site where Lord Ram was born. "The commission should not have taken such a long time in its investigation as it results in the wastage of money," Mayawati added.

No regret on Babri Masjid, ready to be hanged: Uma

Bhopal: As the Liberhan Commission probe report on the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was submitted to the government on Tuesday, former Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader Uma Bharati said she does not regret the destruction and would be ready to be hanged if found guilty. "I wanted the old structure to be destroyed though not in that way," Uma Bharati, now heading the Bharatiya Janshakti Party after quitting the BJP, told reporters here. Uma Bharati, former central minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, is an accused in the demolition of the 16th century mosque. Hindu rightwing groups have maintained that the mosque was built on the site where Lord Ram was born and where a temple to him stood. Uma Bharati said she had no regrets for what happened on Dec 6, 1992, but added that "none of us had planned to demolish the structure". Questioning the timing of the submission of the probe report, she accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of "playing politics", and termed the move as an attempt to appease its "Muslim vote bank".

Those arrested in Lalgarh are not 'outright Maoists'

Kolkata: Conceding that none of the 22 villagers arrested by security forces during the Lalgarh operation were "outright Maoists", the West Bengal government on Tuesday said all of them will be prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code and not according to the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Declaring that charges framed under the UAPA on two of those arrested from Bankura will be withdrawn, state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said they would also be tried under the IPC provisions. Sen said the government has asked the Bankura police superintendent to withdraw the charges under the UAPA slapped on Kanchan Murmu and Gopinath Murmu, who were caught while hiding in a bush with the detonating wire of a landmine on Sunday. "They will be prosecuted under sections of IPC. The 20 other villagers, who were arrested, will also be treated accordingly," he told reporters. "None of those arrested so far in Lalgarh are outright Maoists," he said. The top bureaucrat said the state government also did not consider Chhatradhar Mahato, the leader of the Maoist-backed agitating tribal body, People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), as one officially linked to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday told a cabinet core committee that police needed to take permission of the home secretary before arresting anyone under the UAPA. Sen, however, said Maoist leaders Kishanji alias Koteswar Rao, Bikash and Sashadhar Mahato could be tried under the stringent UAPA.

Kalyan Singh, Advani testimonies longest in Liberhan report: lawyer

Chandigarh: The Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition has voluminous and exhaustive testimonies of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, according to a lawyer associated with the panel. The testimony of Kalyan Singh runs into over 400 pages while those of Advani and Joshi run into nearly 200 pages each, Anupam Gupta, a senior lawyer who was associated with the commission as its counsel, said here on Tuesday. The 16th century mosque was demolished on Dec 6, 1992 by radical Hindu groups that believed it was built on the birthplace of Lord Ram. At the time, Kalyan Singh was heading a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress' P.V. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister. Kalyan Singh's testimony was recorded over seven months between December 2003 and June 2004. Gupta, who cross-examined top leaders of the BJP and other parties as counsel of the commission between 1999 and 2005, later disassociated himself from it owing to differences with Justice M.S. Liberhan, a former chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court. "I am not privy to the contents of the final report. I can only comment after the report is made public. I may write a book on this issue depending on what the findings are," Gupta told media. The Liberhan commission, constituted just 10 days after the demolition, took nearly 17 years to give its final report on the controversy. It submitted its voluminous report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.