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| 16 June 2004 | Wednesday | 27 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Senators say budget is anti-poor
ISLAMABAD, June 15: Opposition members in the Senate have criticized the federal budget 2004-05 and alleged that Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz has presented several contradictory figures during his budget speech.
During the debate on the budget here on Tuesday, the senators lashed out at the government for increasing the defence budget, and for not giving sufficient attention to the agriculture sector and small industries.
Opening the debate, parliamentary leader of the PML-N Ishaq Dar termed the budget as "anti-poor" and "pro-elite". Mr Dar regretted that despite tall claims of the military regime regarding provincial harmony, the government had failed to finalise the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.
He condemned the government's roll back of its programme to document the economy. He asked the government to make the Federal Bureau of Statistics into an autonomous body and also publicise its research results.
He said the defence budget should be kept the same as last year's allocation. He said the government had not provided any relief to the small farmers. "For the first time in history, wheat was imported right at the harvesting season," he said.
He said the import of second-hand agricultural tools and equipment should be allowed in the country. Prof Khurshid Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) said poverty had been increased in those countries which had been following the dictations of the IMF and the World Bank.
He said the previous PPP and the PML-N governments did resist some pressure of the IMF, but the present finance minister was busy in its 100 per cent implementation.
He asked the government to take steps to encourage small industry. He also called for changing the definition of small industry. Prof Khurshid claimed that there had been an increase of 8.2 per cent unemployed persons in the country this year.
Federal Minister for Communications Babar Ghauri appreciated efforts of the government for providing relief to common man especially steps taken to eliminate poverty and unemployment.
He said he appreciated the decision not to arrest farmers for not paying back their loans. PPP Senator Raza Rabbani termed the budget "anti-people" and "pro-capitalist" as it served only the interests of big business.
He said in the agriculture sector, the government had not achieved the target of 4.2 per cent and thus achieved a growth rate of only 2.4 per cent. He said the government had failed to reduce the GST on agriculture inputs due to the IMF and the World Bank.
He said the finance minister had announced that Pakistan would say good-bye to the IMF this year then why he had not given any subsidies to the agriculture sector. Mr Rabbani said the gap between the rich and the poor had increased due to the wrong policies of the regime.
Azam Swati of the MMA called for introducing a transparent tax system in the country and questioned allocation of Rs467 million for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The ruling party senator, Dr. Shahzad Wasim, termed the budget "growth-oriented" and "investment-friendly." He said due to importance of agriculture sector, the government had reduced the prices of pesticides and fertilizers. Syed Dilawar Abbas (PML), Dr Abdullah Riar (PPP), Syed Hidayatullah Shah, Kamil Ali Agha (PML) and Dr Nighat Agha (PML) also took part in the debate.
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