CPIM targets Centre over 'disastrously handled' pandemic and economy

Ahead of the Union Budget the CPIM has alleged the Indian economy is yet to revive from the blow it was dealt with during the Covid pandemic and blamed the government for the way it was handled The party demanded that taxation and public expenditure be used to tilt distribution in the favour of the working masses improve the incomes of farmers generate employment and attain improved health and educational outcomesThe latest editorial of the party mouthpiece Peoples Democracy said the budget for 202324 is to be presented before Parliament at a time when both Indian and world economies are facing a grim situationNotwithstanding the tall claims of the Narendra Modi government Indias economy is yet to recover from the crippling effects of the Covid pandemic and the disastrous way in which it was handled by the Government of India India has to however be prepared for not merely a temporary world recession but the possibility of a prolonged world capitalist crisis as the neoliberal globalisation of the last few decades comes undone under the weight of its own contradictions it saidThe editorial claimed that Indias economic development has also reflected these contradictions with an agrarian crisis wage stagnation and a growing problem of unemployment accompanying even phases of high growth leading to intensive exploitation of the employed working class and a vast increase in inequalityIt pointed out that Indias real per capita national income in 202223 as per the first advance estimates is going to be barely 24 per cent higher than the prepandemic 201920 level lower than even what an underlying trend growth rate of just 1 per cent per annum would have resulted inThis same period has also seen a sharp rise in inflation rates so that over threequarters of the increase in nominal GDP between 201920 and 202223 is accounted for by increases in prices rather than in actual output it saidAlso read Indiarsquos jobless rate rises to 16month high of 830 pc in December CMIEThe industrial sector reflects the crisis most extremely with manufacturing estimated to grow by just 16 per cent in 202223 over the previous yearThe classbiased approach of the Modi government has also ensured that the recovery has been extremely uneven the party alleged It claimed that the proof of this uneven growth is that revenues from corporate and income taxes have increased much more than the increase in nominal GDP between 201920 and 202223The only way this can happen in a situation where rates of taxation have not been increased is if the share of corporate profits and high incomes in the total national income increases By implication given the overall stagnation in income Indias working people have lost out the editorial saidThrough increased unemployment and lower wages their earnings are on an average lower today than they were in 201920 it said In addition to the hamhanded lockdown which in the end did not even prevent lakhs of Indians from dying of Covid the Modi government has contributed to the crisis by ruthlessly pursuing a policy of curbing public expenditureThe trends in revenues and expenditures till November 2022 indicate that revenues from central taxes as a percentage of GDP in 202223 will be higher than in 201920 Further the Centres share in these will also be considerably greater because of a reduction in the states share in revenues from central taxes Yet the Central government expenditure as a percentage of GDP will be lower than in 201920 if the present trend continues for the remaining part of the financial year the editorial claimedThus the Modi governments fiscal policy has strengthened rather than counteracted the trend of increasing inequality and failed to stimulate an economy facing a depressed demand situationThis blindness to economic realities was visible even earlier but the persistence with it even in the face of a catastrophic human tragedy related to the pandemic and its economic effects has a particularly savage element to it it saidThe party said that with prolonged disruption in the global economy being likely Indias economic future depends on genuine aatmanirbharta selfreliance It suggested that instead of trying to compete in a global economy and squeezing out profits by condemning the working masses to a state of perpetual poverty their potential to provide a large domestic market has to be exploited for a more autonomous trajectory of developmentIn the coming session of Parliament the Left is committed to fighting for a Union budget that reflects such priorities and contest the myth that the government is constrained by lack of resources the editorial saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever