By Pavan Kumar
The taxes you pay will fund for the ruling alliance's election campaign. The UPA Government has insured its political future with a Rs 60,000-crore cheque.
The UPA will not pay for it but you, me and every taxpayer of the country will. If not today, tomorrow or three years down the line we have to pay this. The country's taxpayers will pay to ensure the existing political combine returns to power. In short, the UPA is shamelessly trying to loot the country's precious resources to further its own political ambitions.
Are we going to be mute spectators to this? But for some noises here and there in the media, there may be little opposition to this. That's because there is no political opposition in this country. Anyone raising a voice against this misappropriation of the nation's resources will be branded as 'anti-farmer'.
To quote Mr P Chidambaram from his press conference soon after the budget: "Stand up and be counted whether you are for the farmer or against the farmer. I am for the farmer, my PM is for the farmer and our government is for the farmer."
Will the Opposition stand up and question the government? I don't think any political party will do so and commit a political harakiri.
The poll campaign has already been kicked off. See the full-page ads in Sunday's newspapers issued by the NCP, a key member of the UPA government. NCP leader Sharad Pawar, the chief architect of the Rs 60,000-crore package takes credit for fulfilling his promise to the farmer.
The immediate questioning has centered around the source of funding for this largesse. But this is a secondary question. The primary one being: who has given political parties the right to appropriate funds? Will Parliament approve this mega 'loan' mela? Most likely it will pass the test of the floor for reasons stated above.
Half of I-T collections will fund UPA's poll campaign
Now comes the question of funding. The size of the package is shocking. Rs 60,000 crore is equal to 50 per cent of the Income Tax revenue of Rs 1,18,000 crores (revised estimates for 2007-08). So half of the Income Tax paid goes to fund the election campaign of the UPA government.
The Finance Minister is yet to disclose the funding. It could be in the form of bonds, which is seen as a cashless transaction for now-i.e., instead of giving cash to compensate banks' losses, they will be issued bonds guaranteed by the government. It's a paper transaction, but it will bind future governments. Read: Taxpayers have to pay this amount in future not now. This is an accounting fudge and demolishes the claim of bringing down fiscal deficit.
RBI silent spectator
The next question, is an oft repeated one. A debt relief always leads to a culture of defaults, a loan culture not tolerated by banks in urban areas. Recovery agents (read thugs) are set off against the defaulter in urban area, no excuses, no escape. What is more shocking is that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is a silent spectator. That's because it feels that the banks' interests are taken care off and there will be no losses in their books. Clearly, the central bank is not autonomous enough to challenge the political authority.
So if some of us in the media question this are we anti-farmers? No. In fact, the media first brought to light the plight of the farmers - be it in Vidharba or any other part of the country years ago. This Rs 60,000-crore cheque could have come at that time, but did not! Deserving farmers need relief and support, but this can't be used as a ticket to political fortunes.
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