Govt gets wish list

Spending 6 per cent of the GDP on education, reviewing the taxation structure in the oil sector, monitoring forward trading to ensure prevention of hoarding and thorough reorientation of the government's fiscal policies are some of the issues the Left parties want the UPA government to address.

Tired of letting meetings of coordination committees lapse into talking shops with lunches and dinners thrown in, the Left parties have served a 'this or else' kind of note to the government that spells out the bottomline for Left support to the UPA.

Increased plan outlay in sectors such as rural employment, irrigation and flood control and social services is among the demands.

The Left parties also want resource mobilisation from four areas, that, according to them, have been left untapped: taxing speculative gains in the capital market by reintroducing long term capital gains tax and raising the STT rate; rationalising tax incentives to corporates, especially exporters, as this is nothing more than "subsidy to big business"; increasing wealth tax and introducing an inheritance tax; and increasing sales tax and VAT on luxury items.

The UPA supporters say that resource mobilisation in 2006-07 budget was paltry. They reject the government version of a second green revolution which is "corporate driven, export-led agriculture." Nor do they agree with the government's empowerment of Walmart and Monsanto.

They oppose free trade agreements on the grounds that these have led to ruination of domestic producers due to cheap imports, especially in Kerala. They strongly advocate the implementation of the MS Swaminathan report.

The Left parties strongly criticise the recommendation of the agriculture ministry that advocates hiking of the prices of foodgrains and cutting allocations to APL and BPL families.

Instead, the Left parties feel the government should help to reestablish a universal PDS. Procurement of grain by foreign agencies must also be stopped, they argue, for this affects food security.

Vehemently opposing single-brand retailing that opens the door to letting FDI into retail, the parties say raising FDI caps in insurance and allowing FDI in print media are unacceptable. The parties do not say if they want the existing provisions to be rolled back.

The Left parties have made it clear they will not allow the 10 per cent cap on voting rights in the Banking Regulation Act to be lifted. They oppose the PFRDA, liberalisation and privatisation of the mining sector and allowing FII investment through participatory notes.

"The UPA government should take the views of the RBI and SEBI more seriously and initiate steps to regulate and tax FIIs effectively," they say. They also want the Planning Commission to reorient its approach.

On foreign policy, the Left position is predictable: India is kowtowing to the US on every major foreign policy initiative and this is not acceptable.

In terms of immediate steps, the Left would like Gujarat to be "constantly monitored" to ensure constitutional provisions are enforced, ensure more public investment in agriculture, abolish forward trading, and extend the Employment Guarantees Act to another 200 districts from next February.