Hyderabad, Feb.15 - Mrs. D. Saroja, Mahila Satta Secretary, pointed out in a statement that liquor sales would shoot up to Rs.25000 crore in the coming financial year, if the Budget presented to the State Legislature is any indication. The Budget provided for an increase in excise revenue by Rs.866 crore during 2008-09. The Government would be earning Rs.11000 crore by way of excise and sales tax on liquor sales against Rs.8000 crore now.
Dr. JP said today that mere allocation of funds without a radical restructuring of systems was a futile exercise. There has been no substantial decline in poverty over the past two decades despite huge budgetary allocations. On the contrary, there has been an increase in the incidence of distress among vulnerable sections of the population.
Referring to the proposal to supply rice at Rs.2 a kg, he pointed out that going by the number of white cards already issued, the number of the poor exceeded the State’s population. On top of it, the Government now proposed to issue more and more white cards. On construction of houses for the poor, Dr. JP said the scheme was commendable but the Government turned a Nelson’s eye to the huge irregularities. Everybody knew about corruption in the execution of irrigation schemes but there was no word in the budget about curbing it.
Dr. JP said that the budget “does not address critical problems in education and health care or in tackling unemployment or making agriculture remunerative. For instance, Borabanda locality in Hyderabad with a population of over 10000 does not have a single Government school as a result of which even the poor are forced to send their children to costly private schools. Reposing its faith in ‘Aarogyasri’, which caters to a miniscule of people needing surgeries, the Government continues to neglect the public health sector. The Government fails to address the problem of the unemployed. Even if all the special economic zones materialize, they provide jobs only to less than 3 lakhs of people whereas there are 15 lakhs of educated unemployed. There is no attempt at making them employable by imparting the requisite skills or making farming remunerative with provision of credit, extension work and value addition. The so-called debt relief benefited only one-third of the farming community covered by official channels of credit while the remainder, dependent on private moneylenders, are pushed deeper into debt.
Dr. JP said that extension of quality education and health care free of cost to one and all, imparting of skills to the jobless and ensuring higher incomes to farmers alone will eradicate poverty.
Dr. JP complimented Finance Minister K. Rosaiah for abiding by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act targets and for extending scholarships and fee reimbursement to all backward class students on par with those of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
However, the huge debt burden of the State exceeding over Rs.100,000 crore exposed a serious structural problem. Most of the revenue the State realized on sale of Government lands and liquor went towards the repayment of loans along with interest.
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