Press Briefing Monday, 6 July 2009

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi addressed the media today.


Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Budget 2009 was progressive, inclusionary, growth oriented and balanced. It has a lot of things for a lot of sectors and people he said. He said that in this budget there was a greater move towards transparency, an approach which was equitable, a fillip and stimulus in the current recessionary scenario and there was also a focus on growth. For example over Rs. 2113 crore (extra) were pledged for new IITs and a new initiative for a National Literacy Programme for Women which was really a mission for rural, poorer women. Further he said that the aam admi focus of aam admi schemes like NREGA has been continued and enhanced. For example the Rural Insurance Plan which has seen 46 lakh BPL families being covered. He said that the Congress party was going to try and give a legislative framework for Food Security through a comprehensive Food Security Act. He added that the Farm Loan Waiver had been extended for another 6 months.

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that one of the debates started during the election campaign was to increase the tax exemption limits. He said that it was the Congress party which had increased the tax exemption limits each time even in the previous government. This time it has been increased to Rs.1.6 lakhs. He said that all the significant increases have come only during Congress led regimes. He pointed out that the 10% surcharge on personal taxes and FBT had been discontinued. Further he said the pension of non-commissioned officers had been significantly increased and the one rank – one pension scheme had been introduced for ex-servicemen.

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the JNNURM, another flagship programme had seen an increase of 87% in terms of monetary allocations. He drew everyone’s attention to the fact that the Congress-led UPA budget would always harmonize with the Congress-led UPA’s perception and conception of inclusive growth, distributive justice and reaching out to the cornermost and most unreachable segments. He said that it was natural that the overall budgetary philosophy of the Congress party would conform with that sentiment as it had done so today.

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Finance Minister had rightly reiterated that this was only the beginning of a new mandate, new arithmetic and a new thinking which would provide a momentum which had never ever been seen and the effects of this would be seen very quickly.

Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi in reference to the Uttarakhand encounter said that it reflected a brutalization of democracy and something that should be anathema for democracy. He said that India was a proud democracy which was recognized around the world for genuine and sincere attempts at upholding human rights. He said that a full, fair, comprehensive and impartial enquiry was a minimum requirement. He said that this incident shocks the conscious and freezes the soul and should never be allowed to be repeated. He said that the Congress party calls for a short, timed enquiry and after the report is submitted it should be followed by quick, concrete and robust action.

To a question, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that it would be very unfortunate to compare whatever happened in Batla house with what happened with Ranbir Pal. He reminded that in the Batla House case there were allegations. There were no findings that there was a fake, deliberate encounter and it was a terrorist mission. The PIL in the High Court and proceeding in the NHRC was considering the human rights reports that made the allegations of a fake encounter. He reiterated that there was no basis for equating the two incidents.

To a question, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the reform process started many years ago in the Congress led UPA government in the previous regime and therefore higher budgetary allocations and support for that reform process was necessary to keep the momentum going. He said that just because NREGA did not affect the urban middle class, it did not mean that it wasn’t a revolutionary reform. In the same breath Bharat Nirman and Grameen Bima Yojana were also revolutionary reforms. He said that it was necessary to strengthen and increase the outlays to continue and reinforce the reforms process. He also said that the Finance Minister had indicated that this was only the beginning and one needs to wait and see as it was the Congress party and the UPA government that always spoke with regard to the 49% sectoral caps. He said that one must not assume that these things would not happen. He added that these would happen after taking a calibrated decision.

To a question Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that it was for the first time ever that anybody at the national level was bringing about a Food Security Bill. He added that this was the first time ever an overall national policy and more importantly a legislative enactment to make it a mandatory right to demand food on this basis were being contemplated and this was revolutionary.

To a question, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that reducing and restricting Fiscal and Revenue deficit was an important subject. He said that there were a few more aspects to this. He mentioned that economists believe that in a recession, deficit financing to an extent was acceptable. This did not mean that rising fiscal deficit was good. He enlightened those present that even a country like America had a fiscal deficit of 12.6% and even Americans did not consider this to be bad as they wanted the national economy to get a push. He clarified that he was not implying the India should follow this but if by increasing the expenditure and increasing spending on infrastructure if employment can be generated and buying power can created then there was nothing wrong with it.

To a question on 100% tax-exemption on donations to political parties and the BJP taking credit for it, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the BJP takes credit for everything whether it was the above issue or the increase in tax exemption limits, etc. He said that it was ultimately the Finance Minister who considers and accepts the proposal. Highlighting the BJP’s hypocrisy he reminded how the BJP talked about a federal anti-terror agency but it was the Congress party that enacted it. They talked about the RTI but the Congress party brought it into force. They talked about income tax exemption but the truth is that every increase in income -tax exemption has been made by the Congress party he said. He added that the BJP talked about the political donations issue but did not do anything on it despite being in government for five years. Clearly the BJP only talks he said.






(Tom Vadakkan)

Secretary, AICC