Govt diluting people-oriented programmes: Opposition

New Delhi: Opposition on Wednesday attacked the government in the Lok Sabha for diluting or doing away with people-oriented programmes and policies like the rights to information, food and work, and reducing allocations on them.

They also accused the government of having no road map for bringing in the GST Bill, recovering the mounting bad loans or expanding the tax base by bringing rich farmers under the tax net and said the nation now wanted a full-time Finance Minister and not a multi-tasking one.

"I think the time has come that the nation wants a full-time Finance Minister and not a multi-tasking one. You need to take reform measures to boost growth," senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said while initiating the debate on the Finance Bill 2016.

Referring to measures like Right to Information, Right to Food and Right to Work taken by the UPA I and II governments, he said the previous government has not given any bad legacy.

"You (NDA government) say you got bad legacy. You are going to sink, if you demolish these people-oriented programmes." TMC members attacked the government on issues ranging from the jewellers strike and EPF and pension issues and said it had lost an opportunity to expand the tax base by including rich farmers, while BJD said the government was not taking steps to curtail illicit money.

Criticising the budget proposals, Moily said that none of the measures including the GST were implemented by this government. "No road map has been prepared for the GST and you are not serious about it. You are not going to achieve anything," he said.

"On the resources side, on reform side, it is a failed budget. 'Make in India' is the biggest casualty in this Budget. Where is the result, where is the delivery," he asked.

Maintaining that the situation of banks was getting worse, he said the non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans were increasing and banks were not in a position to lend.

"Have you taken any measure to ring fence from the danger," he said, adding the government is not giving right facts to the people of this country. "You have no audacity to recover (the money). You are only sleeping. You have totally demoralised it," Moily said.

"You say that within five years, farmers’ income will double. Agriculture sector is growing at about 1 per cent. Is it possible at all? Specific road map should come on how you are going to achieve this," the Congress leader said.

On black money, Moily said that the disclosures and gross tax collection were lower than during the previous government and "you say it is a bad legacy. You said you will deposit Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts. This is not going to happen...it was only 'jumla' (empty statement)," he said.

Speaking on corruption, the Congress leader said the UPA government passed the Lokpal bill and now it is in limbo. The Congress leader also demanded details on the Panama papers that have come, saying that the government must present the details on this issue as well as on black money. Moily also accused the government of misleading the House that it has given highest allocation to the MGNREGA and said the erstwhile UPA government has extended the highest amount for this major people-oriented programme. "21 states are still waiting for money. It is a demand-driven programme. You are trying to scuttle this programme. Do

not do that," the former minister warned. In programmes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSJ), no progress has been made by the government. "You are only tweaking the old schemes. PMKSJ is just a name change of the previous government's programme," he said.

On the oil and gas sector, the former oil minister said that the crude oil prices have gone down but consumers have not been benefited. In the Tapi pipeline and the three strategic reserves, there has been no progress till date. "We built that Orissa refinery. 95 per cent work was over and due to some damage, we delayed the inauguration. The Prime Minister now says it is the achievement of NDA and you say it is a bad inheritance. We are not hungry and thirsty for cheap publicity," Moily added.

The maximum power capacity was created by the previous government and "you are not able to encash on that capacity". Saugata Roy (TMC) raised the issue of jewellers strike and said that the government cannot run the economy with rigidity. On the other hand, it relaxed terms when there was a protest over the EPF norms, he said.

Noting the low percentage of direct tax compared to indirect tax, he said the government with such a huge mandate has lost an opportunity to reform the tax regime. While there are only four crore tax payers, rich farmers are not being brought under the tax net to widen the tax base, he said.

Roy said he also agreed with the 'fair and lovely' comment by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on the way the government was working.

B Mahtab of BJD also raised the issue of larger portion of indirect taxes in revenue generation from direct taxes as such a move is regressive. He said that while the government is focusing on bringing back black money, it should also work on curbing illicit money.

Mahtab said that levy of cess is not desirable and money garnered through taxes should be utilised to build road and other activities. "I urge the government to shun levy of cess at the drop of a hat and instead taxes be levied rationally." The BJD member demanded that big farmers and companies who are earning in crores should be brought under tax net and not given exemption on income from agriculture.

Defending the government, Nishikant Dubey (BJP) said that the senior Congress leader spoke on Budget but not on the Finance Bill. "Yes we have got bad legacy. We got legacy like 2G, Coalgate, CWG and corruption is the legacy we got," Dubey said wondering why the Congress is thinking that the present Finance
Minister is only for part time.

On the jewellers' strike, he said that the Finance Minister has clearly stated that no excise inspector would harass them and self certification will be there. Dubey said that only public sector banks were allowed to import gold, but during the last days of the UPA, from May 16 to May 26, it gave licenses to 6-7 exporters to import gold. This, he said, led to smuggling and generation of black money.

Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena said that the employees of PSU banks suffered because of mergers and amalgamation, much like the staff of Kingfisher Airlines who were also suffering. He demanded that license fee for 4G operations by BSNL should be lowered and money should come from exchequer to enable the state-owned company to operate at par with private operators.

Sawant said that  the government was asking people not to withdraw money from provident fixed deposits, at a time when fixed deposits give better returns.
To this, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha intervened saying that the provident fund investments were exempt from paying tax at the time of  investment, on interest earned and also on the maturity amount, whereas fixed deposit is subject to TDS at the time of maturity.

Investing in Provident Fund is "more advantageous" than investing in fixed deposits, Sinha said. Jaydev Galla of TDP said that the Centre was not keeping its assurance of granting special category state status to Andhra Pradesh. "The Centre should bailout Andhra Pradesh".