Sir, no new investment has been done in infrastructure and no new investment has been done for additional employment generation, except in the schemes which were existing earlier. Unemployment is on the increase. This is something the Finance Minister should be concerned about. The total investment in the infrastructure sector has declined. Our total investment especially in the power is also less. He says that many of the projects are in the pipeline and private investment is coming, but what is the actual investment in this sector, on ground? It is not much.
I have to come to my State and constituency because the time is limited. There is a power plant in my constituency, at Kayamkulam. That is a thermal plant. It is supposed to be a super thermal power plant, but it is generating only 350 MW. At present, it is a normal thermal plant, but the proposal is for making it a super thermal power plant. I would like him to consider giving financial sanction for setting up a super thermal power plant there. It has got other clearances, but what is pending is the clearance from Finance Ministry.
Sir, the Government of India announced a new scheme of Express Highways, starting from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, from South to North. It is a very good scheme for national integration also, but I am sorry to point out as to how anybody can reach Kanyakumari without touching Kerala. It is a disappointing thing that Kerala is not included in it. A deviated route has been taken deliberately so that Kerala is excluded. I would like him to consider this point also.
Another thing which I mentioned during the last Budget speech was about rubber growers' problem in Kerala. I mentioned that rubber growers were really suffering for lack of adequate price. I also wrote to the Finance Minister about duty imposed on the liberal import of polyurethene. He gave me a reply also. I had mentioned in my letter that polyurethene foams were cheaper than rubber foams, and therefore, the people were preferring polyurethene foams. He replied me saying that a sample survey showed otherwise. I am disputing his reply saying that the sample survey was wrong and not in conformity with the facts.
Sir, I will quote the prices prevailing in New Delhi markets. A latex foam mattress, manufactured by MM Foam, the largest largest rubber manufacturer, costs Rs. 239.84 per square foot whereas a polyurethene foam mattress manufactured by Sleepwell, a leading manufacturer, costs only Rs. 85 per square foot. Where is the amount of Rs. 239 and where is the amount of Rs. 85?
MR. CHAIRMAN : Prof. Kurien, please conclude now.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN : Sir, please bear with me.
MR. CHAIRMAN: Please conclude now. There are two or three more speakers and the Finance Minister has also to reply.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN : Our Party has got more time left. We have 30 minutes. We have not taken 30 minutes. I know that.
MR. CHAIRMAN: I have not said that.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN : That is what I am saying.
MR. CHAIRMAN: But the Minister has also to reply.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN : That is correct, but our Party's time should be given to us. You cannot curtail that.
MR. CHAIRMAN: I am not complaining, but he has to reply also.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN : Let me complete. I will complete within two or three minutes.
His officials misled him in writing to me that rubber foams were cheaper, whereas rubber foams are costing Rs. 239 per square foot and polyurethene Rs. 85 per square foot. This is the position. This shows how the officials connive with the importers. I do not know why they do that. I want him to please take note of it and conduct an inquiry about how they have misled him. I am requesting the hon. Minister again that rubber growers' product cannot compete with imported polyurethene and therefore, give some protection to the growers either by increasing duty on polyurethene or by decreasing excise duty on rubber foam products.
Furthermore, I would like to give you this information that polyurethane is banned in some developed countries because it is environmentally hazardous. Since it is banned there, those countries are dumping it here, which we are welcoming and supporting. I would request you to take note of this and take some steps in order to help the rubber growers. Please also take to task the officers who have misled you in this regard. This is the information available with me and with the best of my knowledge, I am giving this data to you.
Sir, at the international level, the crude oil prices have come down. But you are selling the petroleum products at the administered prices. Why do you hesitate to reduce the prices of petroleum products in India? You should consider this aspect also.
Even though I have a few more points and more time, since the Chair is insisting, I am concluding my speech with these words. Thank you.
Another thing is about more revenue collection. How will you get it? What about your Samadhan Scheme? Now-a-days, in the television, I see various advertisements in regard to this Samadhan Scheme. This Scheme is going to end on 31st of December, this year, and a few more days are left. Will the hon. Minister give us some information as to how far he has been successful with this Samadhan Scheme? How much money has been collected under this Samadhan Scheme? The way the advertisement goes, I get the impression that this Samadhan Scheme has not given us much. So, how will this amount of Rs. 13,000 crore materialise?
I feel that this augmentation of Rs. 14,000 crore through these Supplementary Demands for Grants will put the Finance Minister in more trouble. I sympathise with him. From the day he took over as the Finance Minister, there is a tussle between the Petroleum Ministry and the Department of Revenue. You want to push something, but you have been embarrassed by your own Party. Under these circumstances, how will the Finance Minister and the Finance Ministry manage the things?
I would request hon. Finance Minister, for heaven's sake, not to push the country towards imperialism. If you push through the Patents Bill and give exclusive marketing rights to the multinationals and if you push through the IRA Bill, the fate of 98 crore people will be doomed. The nation will not forgive you for this. Mr. Minister, you should assert yourself because you are being pulled by two wings, that is, those in favour of swadeshi and those in favour of globalisation.
Please assert and save this country from these multinational companies and imperialist forces. Look at them. How uncultured, how uncivilised, agressive...(Interruptions) manner they act these days. Look at America and Britain in the international sector, you cannot believe them ...(Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN : Please conclude now. I have called Shri Ramdas Athawale.
SHRI V.V. RAGHAVAN (TRICHUR): I have not finished. But, since the Chairman insists, I conclude.
16.00 hrs.
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SHRI MANORANJAN BHAKTA : Sir, I want to submit before the hon. Minister replies.
MR. CHAIRMAN : I have already called the hon. Minister now.
Let him complete. At 4.00 p.m., we have also to take up discussion under rule 193.
... (Interruptions)
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MR. CHAIRMAN: Shri Bhakta, you can raise your point during the Appropriation Bill.
SHRI MANORANJAN BHAKTA :
A All right, Sir.
PROF. P.J. KURIEN (MAVELIKARA): You should give a very favourable reply... (Interruptions)
SHRI YASHWANT SINHA: Sir, I am grateful to you and all the hon. Members of this august House for having permitted me to give the reply to the debate now. I was saying that a number of issues have been raised and these are issues of great importance. And, they have to be tackled, they have to be answered. What is the concern of any Finance Minister? When he is confronted with demands after the Budget for expenditure in various Ministries and Departments? An issue was raised here, by an hon. Member, Shri G.M. Banatwalla. It was raised by other Members also that if we prepare the Budget properly then the need for Supplementary Demands would not arise. I agree with this that if the Budget is prepared realistically, then except for meeting emerging requirements, there will be no need for Supplementary Demands, and the whole nature and purpose of Supplementary Demands is to precisely meet the emerging and emergency nature of the expenditure. It is my belief, Sir, that I have done exactly that.
Shri G. M. Banatwalla restrained himself from giving examples. I will sit down with him and discuss separately what are the issues that he feels that expenditure could have been anticipated. But as far as I am concerned, I can assure the House that whatever has been provided for in the Supplementary Demands is in the nature of emergency or emergent expenditure which could not have been anticipated at the time the Budget was framed.
Shri Mohan Singh is not here. He has left. This is a point that he was raising that there is a provision in the Constitution and, therefore, they bring supplementary budget before this House for the approval and sanction of this House. It has been my endeavour in this year's Supplementary Demands and I am extremely grateful once again to Shri G. M. Banatwalla who said that despite his tremendous opposition to this Government, he will concede that at least in the Supplementary Demands we have been very reasonable as far as cash outgo is concerned. We have tried our best. I have been extremely strict with the entire machinery of Government as far as additional expenditure is concerned and, therefore, wherever a demand for additional expenditure came, I insisted on the concerned Ministry and Department that they must locate matching savings. If they do not locate matching savings, then it it will not be possible for me to agree to that extra expenditure and it is as a result of that very strict discipline that we have enforced that it has been possible for us to restrict the cash outgo in this Supplementary Demand to less than Rs.1,279 crore.
I would like to assure the House that the rest of the demands -- Shri V. V. Raghavan might want to know because he raised this issue -- are being met out of the savings which have already been located. It is not that I am saying it that these savings will be located in future. (Interruptions) Budgetary provisions will increase somewhere and will decrease somewhere. This is not something which is happening for the first time in the history of this country. This is something which happens every year. I am only saying that in this Government, I have been extremely cautious to ensure that my expenditure does not cross the limits which I have set in the Budget. Why am I concerned? Like the rest of the hon. Members of this House, I am concerned with fiscal deficit. Here I would like to say this because this issue has been raised repeatedly by Prof. P. J. Kurien, Shri T. R. Baalu and Shri Chetan Chauhan. A number of Members have referred to fiscal deficit. It is a matter of great concern. There is absolutely no doubt that fiscal deficit is a matter of utmost concern because the health of any economy is judged by the quantum of fiscal deficit in the Budget of the Government of India and the budgets of the State Governments. But is fiscal deficit a problem which has arisen this year? I have figures here. I do not know whether I have shared that information with this House. Fiscal deficit is the most intractable problem facing this country for two decades. I have figures here from 1980. For the first five years of the decade of 1980 to 1985, what was the average fiscal deficit per annum? The average fiscal deficit per annum was 6.2 per cent of the GDP. What was the average fiscal deficit of the last five years of the decade of 80s? The fiscal deficit of the last five years of the decade of 80s was 8.2 per cent of the GDP. Please note it.