The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] took a dig at Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for its assertion on need to push forward the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and other economic policies that were hitting, what it called, the common man below his belt. These policies have pushed the prices up and increased unemployment, it felt.
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury laid foundation stone for the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Adhyayana Kendram here on Saturday. Addressing a gathering, he said the economic crises across the globe were toppling governments. What appeared to be a “corporate bankruptcy had led to sovereign bankruptcy”. Many governments, including Greece, Spain, Italy and US, were facing the brunt and India was no exception. The government, however, was ready to increase the prices of petrol and reduce subsidies, saying that hard decisions were the need of the hour. These initiatives would fuel inflation and push up unemployment. The purchasing power of the people would come down drastically, he said.
Governments of different countries allowed sub prime lending to boost purchasing power, and that led to collapse of Wall Street and banks (stage-II, 2008). In third stage the governments announced bail-out packages to the financial institutions. The governments to save their skins were axing the subsidies given to the poor. It impacted the purchasing power of people (leading to fifth stage). And now we are back to square one, and another economic crisis was imminent, he said.
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With the money embezzled in the 2G, and Coal Gate scams India could have easily implemented right to education, and provided 35 kg foodgrain to every family in the country for two years, he said.
CPI(M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu, CPI(M) central committee member Paturi Ramaiah, Makineni Basvapunnaiah Memorial Trust chairman P. Madhu, and secretary Y. Venkateswara Rao were present.