New Delhi, Sept 22 (ANI): A day after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the nation to clarify Centre's stand on the recent big-ticket reforms, leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Sitaram Yechury, accused the government of safeguarding the interests of multi-national companies and ignoring local sentiments.
Interacting with reporters here, Yechury said, "These reforms may help international capital, may help India's big corporates but as far as the common man is concerned, he is going to suffer from greater burdens."
"There is nothing new in what Prime Minister said yesterday. These are all very familiar arguments and he has just repeated all of them, and he is not even addressed a single question that we have been raising. For instance, when all the oil companies are showing handsome profits, what was the need to hike the price of diesel? When the world situation, globally there is a contraction and recession going on, instead of expanding India's domestic level, you are raising these prices and decreasing India's demand potential because you are reducing the purchasing power in the hands of the people," he added.
Yechury also questioned the economic policies being followed by the government of India.
"He told us that money does not grow on trees. All of us know that. The point is what do we do with the money you have? The money you have you are giving tax concession upto Rs.5 lakh 28 thousand crores and your fiscal deficit is 5 lakh 22 thousand crores. That means if the concessions were not given, there is no fiscal deficit. And to reduce this fiscal deficit now you are putting the burdens on the people by reducing whatever meagre subsidies you are giving them," he said.
Asserting that no government likes to impose burdens on the common man, the Prime Minister earlier on Friday said the UPA Government has been voted to office twice to protect the interests of the 'aam admi'.
"At the same time, it is the responsibility of the government to defend the national interest, and protect the long term future of our people. This means that we must ensure that the economy grows rapidly, and that this generates enough productive jobs for the youth of our country," said Dr. Singh.
"Rapid growth is also necessary to raise the revenues we need to finance our programmes in education, health care, housing and rural employment," he added.
Dr. Singh said the price of diesel was raised by just Rs. 5 per litre instead of the Rs 17 that was needed to cut all losses on diesel.
" Much of diesel is used by big cars and SUVs owned by the rich and by factories and businesses. Should government run large fiscal deficits to subsidise them? We reduced taxes on petrol by Rs. 5 per litre to prevent a rise in petrol prices. We did this so that the crores of middle class people who drive scooters and motorcycles are not hit further," said Dr. Singh.
"On LPG, we put a cap of 6 subsidised cylinders per year. Almost half of our people, who need our help the most, actually use only 6 cylinders or less. We have ensured they are not affected. Others will still get 6 subsidised cylinders, but they must pay a higher price for more. We did not touch the price of kerosene, which is consumed by the poor," he added.
The Prime Minister also defended the UPA Government's move to allow foreign direct investment in retail, saying it would not hurt the small traders.
"Organised, modern retailing is already present in our country and is growing. All our major cities have large retail chains. Our national capital, Delhi, has many new shopping centres. But it has also seen a three-fold increase in small shops in recent years," said Dr. Singh.
"In a growing economy, there is enough space for big and small to grow. The fear that small retailers will be wiped out is completely baseless," he added.
Asserting that the opening of organised retail to foreign investment will benefit the farmers, Dr. Singh said: " According to the regulations we have introduced, those who bring FDI have to invest 50 percent of their money in building new warehouses, cold-storages, and modern transport systems."
"This will help to ensure that a third of our fruits and vegetables, which at present are wasted because of storage and transit losses, actually reach the consumer. Wastage will go down; prices paid to farmers will go up; and prices paid by consumers will go down," he added.
The Prime Minister also said the growth of organised retail would also create millions of good quality new jobs. (ANI)
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