Union Budget: Another Bonanza for Corporates, say Trade Unions

New Delhi: Central Trade Unions, along with several civil society groups, criticised the Union Budget proposals tabled in Parliament on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the 2022-23 fiscal, for not including any meaningful policy measures to cushion the blow of COVID-19 pandemic, under the pressure of which many Indian families struggle to live.

The common citizens have been “left to survive on their own,” as the Narendra Modi- led Central government has announced yet “another bonanza for corporates,” All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) said in its preliminary reaction on the Union Budget.

The central trade union argued that the Union Budget has added to the “gloom of the middle classes,” as it has no tax concessions for them, even as the surge in prices of essential services and commodities are impacting them.

“The Finance Minister [also] failed to give account of what happened to all the tall claims and targets set up for employment, smart cities, skill India, double income of farmers, relief to poor and middle income groups, improvement in health infrastructure etc.,” said Amarjeet Kaur, general secretary, AITUC.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said the Union Budget was “full of high decibel sound bites with little substance.”

The “budget did not bother about the miseries being faced by the working people during the pandemic in the form of loss of livelihood and earnings and also widespread and rabid informalisation of employment,” CITU said, adding that it is “totally anti-people and utterly destructive so far the national economy is concerned.”

Announced in the midst of an omicron variant – triggered thrud pandemic wave, Sitharaman said in her speech that the Union Budget sought to “lay the foundation and give a blueprint” to direct the Indian economy over the “Amrit Kaal” of the next 25 years – from this year, when the country will celebrate its 75th Independence anniversary to its 100th anniversary.

Laying out four priorities for the 2022-23 fiscal budget – “PM Gati Shakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action” , Sitharaman said the Budget would provide “impetus for growth,” and benefit youth, women, farmers, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The ambitious claims that may have achieved to stimulate the market to rise, however, failed to invite a positive response from labour unions, which largely maintained that the demands raised by them over the recent months “found no place,” in Sitharaman’s Budget speech.

 In the pre-Budget consultations held by the Finance Ministry with the Central TUs last December, the latter had highlighted that the Indian economy, reeling under the pressure of the pandemic, has shown “signs of a slowdown”, that had alarmingly continued, “due to consistent decline in demand and consumption signalling recession.”

To address the same, CTUs had suggested and increase in corporate tax rates, while reviving wealth tax, and ensuring that the revenue generated through the same is allocated in social sectors and basic essential services, including health, education, food security, among others.

On Tuesday, Sitharaman, however, pushed for enhanced capital expenditure allocations, while announcing that capital investment holds the key to speedy and sustainable revival of the economy. The Centre also announced an increase of 35.4% in the outlay for capital expenditure to fund various infrastructure projects in the 2022-23 fiscal, according to its press statement.

 But even there, as CITU argued, the “figures do not match with the noise,” of enhanced capital expenditure. “Effective Capital expenditure budgeted in 2022-23 is Rs 1.06 lakh crore revealing a marginal and insignificant rise compared to actual expenditure on the same head in 2021-22, and getting largely neutralised by the inflationary impact. In fact, the effective capital expenditure for 2022-23 is well below the actual capital receipt of previous year by around Rs 63,000 crore,” Tapan Sen, general secretary, CITU, told NewsClick.

 Moreover, the Union Budget 2022-23, coming at a time when the unemployment rate in the country is at a soaring high, would also do little to assuage the prevailing exacerbated jobs situation, say experts.

On Tuesday, Sitharaman also proposed lower allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the upcoming fiscal as compared to the revised estimates, allocating Rs 73,000 crore to the country’s rural job guarantee programme.

The revised estimate for MGNREGS for the current fiscal stands at Rs. 98,000 crore, she said in her speech. Last year, the Centre has to step up allocations to the jobs scheme as demand for work surged and shortage of funds available to several state governments was reported.

The allocation for MGNREGS, that has served as a lifeline for the working population in the country during the pandemic, will most probably fail in generating 100 days work – which is as per the Act’s provisions – for a “large number of the rural households,” Rakshita Swamay, who is associated with Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), a coming together of civil society members and social activists, told NewsClick over the  phone.

“Huge amount of wage payments under MGNREGS are still pending, which means that a considerable chunk of the new allocations will first go in clearing the arrears and thereby, will not help in creating fresh employment for the rural population,” she said. The PAEG, in their pre-budget statement last month, had demanded an allocation of Rs. 2.64 lakh crore for the rural jobs scheme.

Such has been the dire employment situation in the country that a scheme similar to MGNREGS for the urban population has been gaining widespread traction.

Giving a ‘wide berth’ to it, the Centre, on Tuesday announced creation of 60 lakh new jobs under its productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors, and an additional production of Rs. 30 lakh crore over next five years.