words per minute
8
AnkanRoy1
00:00
Speed
Sir, we have three stimulating days of discussion on the Finance Bill. We have also had eight weeks of discussion on the General Budget. I am indeed glad that the budget, which I had presented to Parliament at the end of February, has generated keen interest and considerable comments. I have benefited by a great number of suggestions, some of which are certainly constructive. The Members of the House will appreciate that I was fully responsive to the need to make suitable amendments and to provide adequate relief wherever these were found necessary.
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all the Members of the House for their positive reactions to the Budget. I must particularly compliment to one of my friends for having made a speech on the Financial Bill and in conformity with the best traditions of Parliamentary democracy. No doubt, he has carefully studied all the issues. He has been fair enough to recognize some of the salutary measures, which I have introduced in the Budget. However, he has also raised a number of points and it is my duty to offer my observations on them. The hon. Members has taken strong exceptions to the fact that last year's accounts have not been given at all, with the result that we do not know whether there has been any variation between the revised and actual estimates. I am not clear about the difficulty that this position has created in the proper understanding of the budgetary situation regarding the Budget figures. I think, he seems to be under the impression that there has been a departure from previous practice in this regard. I would like to inform the hon. Member that there has been no change whatsoever in this matter as compared to previous years. If the hon. Member had looked into the Budget documents with care, he would have noticed that the annual financial statement laid before the Parliament at the time presenting Budget, gives the account figure of the previous year under the various heads of receipts and expenditure. Further, the detailed demands for grants for the current year, which have been laid on the table of the House, give the details of expenditure figures for the previous year. The actual estimate is not given in the main Demands for Grants, as it would be a repetition. The final figure are given in the final accounts after some time of the presentation of the Budget. Therefore, he is not correct in assuming that Parliament is denied information about actual estimate of a year and variations from the estimates for that year.
Sir, I am indeed very grateful to the hon. Member for this reference to the need for economy measures. I can assure him and all the Members of the House that our Government is very earnest in seeing to it that the economy in expenditure, to which he has given the highest priority, is achieved in fact. The economic instructions issued by the Finance Ministry in respect of creation of new posts, both domestic and foreign and reductions in overtime expenses are all being implemented with sincerity. For the first time, the Government is also taking a close hard look at the enormous expenditures, which have arisen over the years in the past and a small but significant beginning has been made launched a drive for improvement in the operations of public sector corporations with a view to ensuring better returns in our investments and preventing a situation which unfortunately existed in the past when such undertakings were a drain on the public exchequer.
There has been some criticism regarding the future trend of prices. In this connection, not only one Member but some other Members have also stated that prices continue to rise and that the claims of the Government are also on paper. So far as, I am concerned, in a large country like ours, there must be some definite and agreed standards for assessing the level of price. Everybody knows that we have two standards- the wholesale price index and the consumer price index. I have not invented these standards. We continue to use the very standards, which had been introduced to the country by the previous Government. In the case of wholesale price index, we can claim with pride that the wholesale price index at the time when we presented the budget was exactly the same as the previous year, when we assumed office. In fact, there was no inflation at all. This has been recognized all over the world as a remarkable achievement. The hon. Members will also appreciate that after I presented the Budget, there has been no Indication that the wholesale price index has gone up. Indeed, it remains remarkably stable. But, so far as the consumer price index is concerned, it remained steady till last year. All this would surely indicate that the reports could only represent isolated instances caused by local demand for some consumer items.