The Hindu : National : "Left feels humiliated"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

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National

"Left feels humiliated"

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 22. The Left parties plan to make it known to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, the level of their dissatisfaction over the economic policies being pursued by the coalition Government.

``The Congress could have pursued its agenda, provided the Government is its own. They are running a coalition and it has to adhere to the Common Minimum Programme,'' the General Secretary of the All-India Forward Bloc, Debabrata Biswas, said here ahead of the UPA-Left parties coordination meeting on Thursday.

Mr. Biswas said the Left parties were ``not at all satisfied'' with the functioning of the Finance Minister and his dealing with the parties.

``We felt humiliated, for, in the last meeting we discussed something else and later the Government raised the foreign direct investment cap in the telecom sector'', the AIFB leader told The Hindu.

The Left parties would insist that the Government give priority to three sectors in the coming Budget: address the agrarian crisis; increase spending in public health and education; and initiate steps to provide social and economic security to the unorganised workforce.

On agriculture, he said, the Government should ensure that the sector got inputs at the cheapest possible rates and the farmers got maximum remunerative prices.

He suggested that science and technology be harnessed for development in agriculture, adapting to Indian conditions.

As regards spending on public health and education, Mr. Biswas said that over the years allocation had come down in these sectors, with the Government laying stress on creating ``luxury'' hospitals in urban and metro cities while the rural areas lacked basic facilities.

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