CPI(M) today attacked the government for pushing some sick PSUs for strategic sale, saying the move was aimed to service the purpose of "big corporates" and not to promote 'Make in India'.
The 'destructive design' should stop as privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) will end the reservation for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, it said.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, CPI-M leader Tapan Kumar Sen said the Centre was on a "disastrous selling spree" of well-functioning PSUs in core and strategic sectors of the economy.
Stating that privatisation of PSUs was aimed at severely weakening the economy, he said "In reality, the purpose is not to promote 'Make in India' and your (such) slogans are fooling people. The purpose is to serve the big corporates."
Maintaining that the economy as a whole has been thrown into an auction mode, he said "While making high decibel noises on 'Make in India', in reality the government has been targeting most of the profit making PSUs for privatisation through strategic sale."
Niti Aayog has already listed 74 PSUs for strategic sale, while some profit making organisations have already been pushed for advanced stage of strategic sale, he added.
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Nominated member Narendra Yadav slammed the Budget 2017 saying the merger of plan and non-plan expenditure will divert the allocation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
He appealed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley "to reconsider this counter productive paradigm shift which is likely to be serious and detrimental effect on government's vision 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.
"The change is a retrograde step. The distinction of plan and non-plan paves way for diverting SC/ST allocation for administrative heads like salary rather than properly targeting the scheme for empowerment of SC/STs."
With the government abolishing Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) in Budget 2017, he said, "SCSP and TSP are now being replaced by allocation for welfare of SCs and STs. This is no innocuous change of nomenclature. This is a paradigm shift at its worst."
"This is a change from an institutional mechanism which was operational for nearly four decades to pure adhocism. This is a change from targeting budgeting to untargeted budgeting," he said and attacked the government for moving in the opposite direction when it comes to empowering them.
On budget allocation for SC/STs in the Budget, he said, "It is true that allocation for SCs has been raised by 35 per cent and STs by 33 per cent. Regretablly, it is illusionary."
The allocation for next fiscal would have worked out be Rs 91,000 crore had the government followed the the Narendra Jadhav guidelines issued for an inclusive growth of the SC/ST communities, he said.
"This year's allocaton for SCs is Rs 44,000 crore and 18,000 crore for STs. This is a curious case of the Finance Ministry not following its own directive," he added.
Separately, Congress leader Viplove Thakur asked the government to take adequate steps to protect minor girls who are pregnant after rape.
Earlier, the House condoled the death of veteran TDP member Mente Padmanabham and observed silence. Padmanabham passed away on January 1 at the age of 83 years. He represented Andhra Pradesh in the House from September 1989 till April 1994, Chairman Hamid Ansari said.
