CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday said the Union Budget for 2012- 13 had failed to spell out any concrete action plan on how the government planned to bring back the black money stashed in foreign countries or how the government proposed to check the generation of black money.“There has been a lot of tall talk of bringing back the black money stashed abroad for more than three years now, nothing tangible has been done on that count”, the Chief Minister said.Not satisfied with the Finance Minister’s statement that a White Paper on black money would be presented in the current session of Parliament and had listed various Bills which were at various stages, she said that the announcement of certain measures like compulsory declaration of assets abroad and double taxation avoidance agreements with some foreign countries would hardly help in either checking the generation of black money or bringing it back.Observing that unchecked fiscal deficit had been ailing the country for quite some time now, Jayalalithaa said though all revenue expenditure could not be considered as being unproductive, unchecked excess revenue expenditure on current consumption would lead to high fiscal deficit which in turn would spill over into current account deficit. “The fiscal deficit, which was 4.8 per cent of the GDP in 2010-11, as projected in this Budget is set to rise to 5.9 per cent of the GDP. Though it is projected that this will be brought down to 5.1 per cent in 2012-13, the budget does not have any concrete measures to contain the fiscal deficit”, the CM said.Opining that the economic situation calls for some bold measures to stem the price rise, build investor confidence, enhance the purchasing power of the common people and put the Indian economy back on track, she observed, “But it is disappointing to note that there is no serious attempt to address the grave concerns afflicting the Indian economy.It has turned out to be business- as-usual with some tinkering here and there with excise and customs duty, income tax, etc.” Jayalalithaa said perhaps considering the stock market as the parameter of economic growth, the Finance Minister had reduced the STT on delivery by 20 per cent. The introduction of the new scheme Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme giving tax relief to retail investors up to `50,000 was uncalled for, she added.Stating that requisite focus on infrastructure had not been provided in the budget, she said the Planning Commission had estimated the requirement of funds for the 12th Plan to the tune of $1 trillion. A large extent of this investment was required in the power sector, which was a critical need for development.Similarly, the need for investment in roads, bridges, irrigation, etc., was also huge.The CM said since the government by itself could not invest in these infrastructure projects, there was a need for larger private investment and PPP mode projects. The Finance Minister had estimated an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore in the 12th Plan Period and that 50 per cent of it would come from the private sector. However, the Budget had not come out with any rational forward looking policy for private investment and public-private partnership in these areas of infrastructure while adding a few more sectors in viability gap funding.Faulting the Centre for effecting a meagre increase in the pension amount under the National Pension Scheme from Rs 200 to Rs 300, she said this would not provide even a modicum of social security for the marginalised people who depend on this pension.In this regard, she recalled that her government in Tamil Nadu was giving Rs 1,000 per month as pension.Jayalalithaa said the much talked about Rajiv Awas Yojana and JNNURM- II had been totally ignored.Besides, there was no mention of urban poverty reduction, which was the need of the hour. “Though the allocations under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme have been increased, Tamil Nadu would not get any benefit because of the rigidity in guidelines”, she pointed out.In the R.E. Projection, the downward revision of tax projection would result in a loss of around Rs 400 crore for the State’s resources for 2011-12 substantially squeezing Tamil Nadu’s welfare programmes.Jayalalithaa said there was no announcement to enable the States to directly raise resources to implement infrastructure projects. The Centre could have created an instrument for raising debt funds to provide support to State government projects similar to the infrastructure debt fund to finance Central government projects.
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