The vision of UPA government on 11th plan can be contained in a nut shell as follows. “The 11th Plan provides an opportunity to restructure policies to achieve a new vision of growth that will be much more broad based and inclusive, bringing about a faster reduction in poverty and helping bridge the divides that are currently the focus of so much attention. The first steps in this direction were initiated in the middle of the Tenth Plan based on the National Common Minimum Programme adopted by the Government. These steps must be further strengthened and consolidated into a strategy for the 11th Plan.”

The suggestions to fulfill this vision are briefed in the approach paper as given below.

 

It is true that if the steps to implement the NCMP are further strengthened, the real income of people at large will be improved which will provide a relief to their sufferings. But the faith of the UPA government in NCMP has become doubtful after two years of it’s rule. Even though few positive steps have been taken for the implementation of NCMP,the UPA government was showing conscious disregard to it’s vital and sensitive commitments to the people of India thro’ NCMP as briefed elsewhere in this issue.

In this back drop of governance for the last two years by UPA government, the song of further strengthening of steps to implement NCMP is to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. Under the reign of neo-liberal policies, the economic growth rate between 8%-9% may double the income of few, but will not double the income of majority of Indian population. This campaign of a mirage is based on the doctrine of “trickling-down” effect.

The approach paper suggest that the investment in infrastructure including power generation , transmission and distribution will need to increase from 4.6% of GDP to 7%-8% in 11th plan period and claims that half of increase in investment (6%) should be in infrastructure to achieve this goal. The paper also suggest an aggressive effort to promote Pubic – Private Partnership (PPP) since public sector resources are scare .Eying this, Model Concession Agreements (MCA) are being designed that constitute a stable policy and regulatory regime where private capital derives greater comfort and seeks least possible risk premium ! Now the cat comes out of the bag! The basic infrastructure development including strategic sectors like electricity which is the basic responsibility of a government of the developing country is handing over to profit haunters in the label of PPP on the pretext of resources scarcity.

While fallacious propaganda is being launched on the resources crunch of the Government, pro-rich policies are pursued by them for mobilizing the resources, as very correctly alleged by left parties as follows:

“The Left Parties had made a range of proposals on resource mobilization to the Government earlier this year. The focus of the proposals was on four areas from where additional resource mobilisation is eminently possible: (a) taxing the speculative capital gains made in the capital market by reintroducing the long-term capital gains tax and raising the rate of the STT (b) rationalizing the myriad tax exemptions and incentives being enjoyed by the corporates, especially exporters, which are nothing but subsidies to big business (c) increasing the rate of the wealth tax and introducing an inheritance tax with a suitable exemption limit so that only the rich come under their purview and (d) increasing sales tax/VAT on luxury items consumed by the rich. Unfortunately, these proposals were virtually rejected as a prescription for a “confiscatory taxation regime”, despite the fact that the Left Parties far from suggesting any increase in the income tax burden on the salaried middle class or increased excise duty on domestic producers, did not even ask for an increase in the corporate tax rate which was slashed in Budget 2005-06.”

So it becomes clear that the cry of resources crunch is only an eye wash to hide the neo-liberal pro-rich policies.

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