Underlining contradictory signals from the government on policies towards the poor and marginalised, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it was time to reorient its economic policy direction from favouring the rich at the expense of the underprivileged.
Referring to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil's speech on the eve of Republic Day, the party said while she renewed the pledge to empower the poor and marginalised sections so that they could be part of India's growth story, around the same time in the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, the government officials talked of rolling back even existing support to these sections.
“The contrast could not have been more stark and reflects a fundamental contradiction set in motion during the birth pangs of our Republic,” an editorial in the latest edition of party organ People's Democracy said.
It noted that presenting the draft of the Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar had warned of this contradiction that while in political life the country would recognise the principle of one-man, one-vote, in social and economic life the same would be denied in value on account of the social and economic structure.
“If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this [Constituent] Assembly has laboriously built up,” it quoted Dr. Ambedkar as having said.
The party said government spokesmen in Davos were not oblivious of this contradiction even after six decades and accused them of being brazen in pushing the government to create greater avenues for profit generation even if it meant impoverishing the masses.
Citing both the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission who called for reform of the labour laws and an economic adviser to the Prime Minister suggesting virtual withdrawal of all subsidies and stopping all social welfare expenditures, the editorial said the objectives were to change the labour laws and divert resources used to provide relief to people towards avenues that would enlarge private profit.
It said a legitimate tax of Rs. 2.25 lakh crore due under corporate tax and personal income tax for high net worth individuals was consciously foregone during financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10.
