I have referred to social justice and the tax effort. He has made his tax effort after very careful consideration and examination and it has been done very wisely. It is not just putting some sort of list in the budget papers and then saying that it has been done. He has made more direct effort in the indirect taxation areas of customs and excises. He has collected all the funds from these two areas.
At the same time, he has tried to see that the burden does not fall on the poor man, or on those commoditie which are consumed by the poor. He has exempted 38 commodities after very careful consideration. I am glad that in this matter he has made use of the Jha Commission Report on excise revenues. He has very carefully worked out schemes and collected more than Rs. 500 crores through indirect taxes. At the same time, he has taken care to see that the burden does not fall on the lower income groups. This criteria of looking to the interests of the poor people and weaker sections of the society and considering what is to be done for them is another salient feature of this budget.
An Hon. Member : At least this remark, provokes laughter.
Shri Yashwantrao Chavan : It provokes laughter without laugh. Secondly, the type of criticisms that we expect at the time of the budget are repeated every year. This year, the IMF loan is an additional one Prof Madhu Dandavate : Thank God.
Shri Yashwantrao Chavan : I do not say that debate is illegitimate. It is a legitimate debate. The country should be careful that we do not borrow money on conditions which ultimately compromise our sovereignty. I do not think anybody will dispute this proposition. I had very carefully listened to Shri. Venkataraman, When he initiated the debate on the IMF loan. He had made the position amply clear. There can be no two views on this question. Merely using it as some sort of stick to beat the Government on one pretext or another is no good. But the argument against the IMF loan is exactly like that. It is highly exaggerated. One of the members of the Janata Party has publicly stated that there is no influence of the IMF loan on this budget.
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But I must mention Dr. Subramaniam Swamy’s name for another point. He has made another very interesting observation that the present budget reflects the national consensus. And his is one thing that I would remind my Marxist Communist friends - please keep this national consensus in mind.
Shri Sunil Maitra : The Congress party plus Mr. Subramaniam Swamy - that is national consensus !
