Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi, Feb 16: Pointing to the constitutional constraints against making big-ticket announcements in the Interim Budget, acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday defended not making any major announcements. He said every measure has been taken to counter the global downturn by generating demand internally through investment in infrastructure and rural development.
“I have not been able to give my best, but whatever could given, given the constraints, has been given,” said Pranab.
Defending, what is being termed as a rather “damp squib” Interim Budget, Pranab said, “Neither could I go for reckless spending nor could I increase taxes without the mandate of Parliament.”
Pranab also added that tax collections deficit to the tune of Rs 60000 crore is a major cause of concern.
On the widespread criticism that the govt missed an opportunity to tackle the developing crisis in the Indian economy, he said, “Already PM had declared two stimulus packages. Those were the major steps to tackle the crisis.”
Speaking to Lok Sabha TV, Pranab said, “The basic objective was to counter the global financial crisis. For that we need to generate demand internally and this can be done by investments in infrastructure and rural sector.”
On the fillip that the infrastructure sector has been asking for, Pranab said, “We have given the proposal for investment worth Rs 67,000 cr through the PPP route. This is beyond the budgetary allocation.”
Accepting that the fiscal deficit is a cause of concern, Pranab said, “Yes, it is worrying. But we can overcome it through higher growth. If we achieve 9% GDP growth then the deficit can be taken care of.”
He also cautioned against too much concern on the fiscal deficit front adding, “We should not be too much obsessed with fiscal deficit. Everywhere they are coming out with bailout packages. Unless the developed economies have a turn around, it will be difficult for developing economies to grow.”
Confident of achieving 9% growth
The acting Finance Minister appeared confident of achieving 9% growth, but conceded that in the immediate term its revision from 9% to 7% was in line with the realities.
Outlining the achievements of the UPA on the agricultural sector, Pranab said that the government worked on a three pronged approach for the sector.
Firstly, the farmers were encouraged to produce more by increasing the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs).
Secondly, the credit was institutionalised as there is now a 300% increase in the plan allocation for the sector.
Thirdly, the government provided more than Rs 65000 cr as debt relief to farmers.
Stressing on the success of the three pronged approach, Pranab said, “We have achieved more than 3% growth in agricultural sector. We can achieve 4% growth and it will in turn help in achieving 9% GDP growth.”
On the sounds of protest from the Opposition benches, during the Budget speech, when he mentioned the “hand” that helps, Pranab said, “The “hand” of the government is that helps not the “hand” of a political party.”
First Published: Monday, February 16, 2009, 00:00