Madam,
in support of the Finance Bill, 2010, first, I wish to point out the new
economic order of the present Government. In view of the provisions of the
Finance Bill, 2010, and the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission
Report, which shows that there are two economic orders, I want to give a
comparative figure of both these economic orders. First, the average cumulative
burden of all indirect taxes was 22 per cent. Now, by the reason of the new
economic order, which has been inducted by the Finance Bill, the average
cumulative burden of all indirect taxes has come to 10 per cent. Second, in the
old economic order, the companies deal with tax laws and officials of different
States, whereas in the new economic order, there is a uniform tax law and
system across India. Third, by140
reason of the old economic order, dozens of different taxes and several products
are taxed at different rates in different160
States. In the new economic order, there are only two tax rates. One is for the
Centre and another is for all the States. Fourth, as a market, India was
fragmented, and therefore, weak. In the new economic order, a strong common
market with free movement of products and services is there.
Eighth, India is one of the fastest-growing economies, but one of the
toughest places to do business, but in the new economic order, India is one of
the largest global economies and is easier to do business with and in. Under
the new financial order, in view of the provisions drafted in the Finance Bill,
no tax needs to be paid up to Rs.1.6 lakh. This is the280 important part of the current IT
structure.
I would seriously dispute the railway
service tax that has been imposed. I have raised it earlier also and
I would again request the Government to withdraw the service taxes which have
been320 imposed on the
railways. The honourable Railway Minister did not increase a single
paisa either in the case of passenger fare or freight fare. Rather, she
has given concession in the freight fare. A benefit of Rs.100 is being given on
the carriage of essential commodities. If this service tax is imposed, it
will have an indirect effect on the fare which was not at all
intended by the Railway Minister. This will result in a heavy
burden on the Railways. In the Railway Budget, the Railway Minister has given
her intention not to increase the fare but if this420 service tax is imposed on the Railways
it will lead to a tremendous liability for the Railways and it has to
carry on with that liability. I would request the honourable Finance
Minister to reconsider this aspect of the matter where the service
tax has been imposed. Earlier also, we had said that the service tax is not
required to480 be imposed on
the individual services. It had continued last year. I would repeat that if
it is not taken into consideration, the Railways will have to bear a huge
liability and it will have to carry on that liability without any avenue
of income.
Today we see the Maoist and the
Naxalite activities are going on in areas where really no development has taken
place since Independence. In such areas a number of public sector
undertakings are having their560
mining operations. These areas have steel factories and other big heavy
industries. They also have the forest reserves. In such areas
Naxal activities are going on. It is because the Government or the big
enterprises and the big industrialists have not given back anything for the benefits
extracted by them from the operations carried out in these areas. Madam, do you
know who lives in these areas? The persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes live there. If we640
get a population chart, we would find that 80 per cent persons belonging
to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes live in and around that area.
Unfortunately, for decades together CSR benefits have not been extended
there. Had they been extended, we would have seen some other picture in
our country today. We would not have seen Maoist and Naxalite
activities700 in those areas.
Therefore, I would make a request that specific provisions should be made
by amending the Finance Bill for giving benefits to Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes of those areas where mining operations are going on. The other
day, I said that you should bring a new law in this august House for
giving rights of forest to the persons who live in forests.
In the present Finance Bill,
certain benefits have been extended but I would say that these benefits should
also be extended to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. We have got the figures
for the800 last four years.
The last UPA Government had appointed Sachar Committee and we have got
its report. It is very clear from the report of the Committee that no
development has taken place in the case of minorities. I would840 submit that discussions should be
held in this regard in future by fixing some time. At the same time,
when these things have been pointed out, certain benefits should have
been extended to minorities. I am not saying it simply for the
sake of minority. In our Hindus also, we have Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes. But the persons belonging to minority communities live much
below poverty line. We have to identify them and have to extend benefits to
those areas. I have seen that in some areas where a large number of
persons belonging to minority communities live, normally 60 to 70 per
cent people of that area live much below poverty line. I have seen this
in my960 area of Asansol where
about 90 per cent people live below poverty line. Therefore, these benefits have
to be extended980 to them.
Madam,
another aspect to which I would like to make a reference is the idea of
building a corpus, namely, the National Clean Energy Fund by way of imposing
cess on coal produced in India as well as on imported coal at the rate of Rs.
50 per tonne which gets appreciated. This is an obligation that the Government
has to discharge for keeping the environment clean. In the State of West Bengal,
25 per cent cess is collected from coal production. What is the law on cess?
The law on cess says that whenever it is collected, it has to be spent in the
area itself. But unfortunately, it is not being done in our State.
There are large areas under coal mining in West Bengal and the cess collected
from coal production in West1120
Bengal has not been spent in the State. Now, the point is that it has to
be seen that the purpose for which the cess is being collected is spent
accordingly for that purpose. If a cess is collected for a definite purpose,
then it has to be monitored to see that it is spent for that purpose
only. I would like to say that it has to be seen whether the cess
collected is spent for the purpose for which it has been collected or it
is being spent for extraneous purposes. I have already mentioned about the
education loan. I would like to request the honourable Finance Minister about
reconsidering his proposal for imposition of taxes on petroleum products. VAT
is collected by all the States, including our State. In our State, the VAT
collected on petroleum products1260
is the highest. I would like to request the honourable Finance Minister to
reconsider reduction of taxes on the petroleum1280
products. With these words, I support the Finance Bill, 2010 and I
would also like to remind again that there is nothing to be worried
about the expression `retrospective’ as it does not intend to bring anything
new and I have already mentioned about that earlier.
All
the States have furnished data pertaining to the production of food grains. The
agricultural production is slightly lower than the projected rate. This is
because of the wrong policy adopted by the Government. The
Government has increased the cost of agricultural inputs to an unbearable
level. The relief that agriculturists used to get in obtaining chemical
fertilizers is not available any more. The Government has increased the prices
of chemical fertilizers. The fertilizer1400
subsidy has also come down. So, agriculturists are not able to go in for
adequate quantity of chemical fertilizers for their crop. The reduction in
fertilizers has resulted in reduced production. Organic farming has drawn the
attention of the farming1440
community now. But unfortunately, the Government is not taking steps to
encourage the agriculturists who would like to go in for natural manure
for cultivation without using fertilizers and insecticides. In the
similar pattern of providing subsidy to chemical fertilizers, subsidy may be
extended to agricultural inputs used in organic farming. Unfortunately, the
Government has failed in extending support to organic farming. Even now the
Government can reconsider shedding its indifference and go all out to encourage
the farmers to go in for organic farming because this would ensure the
availability of healthy and non-toxic food to the common people. I would like
to point out that organic farming has received wide welcome from farmers all
over the country. In Tamil Nadu, great support has been extended by the
farmers to organic farming. In the same pattern as declaring Special Economic
Zones, the areas where organic farming is taken up in full swing, should be
identified and declared as Special1600
Organic Farming Areas and all possible help should be extended to the
agriculturists in those areas. 1616
