Govt seeks Rs 8,565 crore more

Supplementary demand for grants includes debt repayment of Rs 4,20,203 crore.

The government on Tuesday presented a supplementary demand for grants in Parliament for additional expenditure of Rs 4,39,925 crore this fiscal. This includes debt repayment of Rs 4,20,203 crore and issue of oil bonds worth Rs 5,750 crore.

The final batch of supplementary grants tabled in the Lok Sabha, however, involves a net cash outgo of only Rs 8,565 crore. The balance of Rs 4,31,358 crore would be met through savings, enhanced receipts and recoveries. The bonds will be issued to oil marketing companies for meeting their under recoveries this fiscal on account of subsidies on domestic LPG and PDS kerosene.

The supplementary demand for grants includes 78 grants and four appropriations. There is also a Rs 1,200 crore provision for fertiliser subsidies.

The debt repayment included treasury bills of various maturity, market stabilisation schemes, ADB and IMF payments, relief bonds, Iraq bonds, redemptions of special securities and India Millennium Deposits. The supplementary demand also provided Rs 1500 crore to a number of PSUs, including waiver of a Rs 1103 crore loan to the ailing Heavy Engineering Corporation.

The rural development department has been provided Rs 3000 crore for additional expenditure on various social schemes, Rs 1005 crore for payment of interest subsidy to farmers on crop loans and Rs 995 crore for additional allocation for externally aided projects. The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP in the year to March 2006 and hopes to slash it to 3.8 per cent in 2006-07.

Meanwhile, the BJP termed the Union Budget as one "full of missed opportunity" as the debate on the Finance and Appropriation Bill was initiated in the Lok Sabha today.

Sumitra Mahajan of the BJP initiated the debate attacking it as a Budget which could not capitalise on the favourable economic fundamentals of the economy. "Instead of providing a sound policy framework for a growing economy, the budget reflects the narrow thinking of the finance minister," she said.

She gave the example of the reduction of interest rates on farm credit to illustrate her point. "The only thing that this government has given to the farmer is a marginally cheaper loan, what about all the other things that a farmer requires," she said. "This is what I mean by narrow thinking," she added.

Mahajan also said concentrating too hard on the service sector was detremental to the manufacturing industry. "Look at the state of the Small Sector Enterprises, these are the most employent oriented sectors of the economy. For a government which speaks of providing employment through the National Employment Guarantee Act, it is shameful that in the last 3 years, nearly 10 lakh jobs have been lost due to closure of industries," she said.

The finance minister is expected to reply to the debate on March 10. The debate in the Rajya Sabha will commence on Wednesday.

The government found support but grudgingly from their Left allies. Roop Chand Pal of the CPM said although he supported the Budget, he wanted to state on record that the Left was not very happy with it.

"The reckless, desperate disinvestment can only lead to ruin and we are taking that route," he said.

He added that the allocations for the eight flagship schemes of the UPA may have gone on paper by upto 54 per cent but this was hardly enough looking at the scope of the schemes.

"Of course the finance minister will say that technically it is never enough, but we are unhappy with this," he said. "Our support to the government is contingent upon the implementation of the CMP, these schemes are part of the CMP, therefore the government is making a mistake by allocating inadequate funds," he added.

Congress MP K S Rao was left to defend the government on the budget and he said that the BJP may term the budget as populist but "when has the BJP ever though of the poor and the rural people." He added that the allocation of over Rs 50,000 crores to social schemes alone shows the deep commitment of the government towards the upliftment of the poor.