Govt policies pro-rich: CPM / Dec 17, 2005 / Business Standard

From Indiapensions

Govt policies pro-rich: CPM

The CPI(M) central committee has sought a change in the direction of United Progressive Alliance government's economic policies, which, it said, were "not in favour of the working people and the poor".

In a statement at the end of the three-day central committee meeting, which took stock of the developments in the past three months, the party said liberalisation policies had boosted the fortunes of the rich. Citing the sale of 60 million cars in the country, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat criticised the government's "reluctance to tax the rich".

"Crores of rupees are spent on luxury cars, jewellery, weddings and lavish parties. The government should tax such luxury consumption and take steps to increase the tax-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. This tax alone can generate resources for rural development and the social sector expenditure," the party said.

Opposing the move to privatise pension funds, the party rejected the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill. "We will like the government not to privatise the funds and not to abandon its responsibility to provide minimum returns on it. We will not support the Bill in the present form," Karat said.

The party would discuss it with the government, and try to see if some of the provisions could be re-worked, he added.

Opposing the reduction in interest rate on the employees' provident fund, the CPI(M) said the government's stance that the EPF organisation should find the resources to pay the interest is "unacceptable" to it.

'The government should enhance the rate of interest on the Special Deposit Scheme where over 80 per cent of the EPF corpus stands invested which will enable the EPFO to maintain the interest rate at 9.5 per cent.'

The central committee approved the party's stance that the government should not give in to pressure on the issue of the agreement on agriculture, non-agricultural market access, TRIPS and General Agreement on Trade and Services at the ongoing WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong.

All party units will observe January 24, 2006 as an 'Anti-Imperialist Day' wherein the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, solidarity with the Palestinians, the targeting of Iran and other actions of the US will be highlighted, announced Karat.