NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Tuesday continued with their offensive against the policies of the Manmohan Singh Government charging that "economic growth does not mean economic development." The debate also witnessed brief skirmishes between the Left and the Congress.

Plight of masses

Participating in the resumed discussion in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President's address, C.K. Chandrappan of the Communist Party of India, said despite the claims of the Government, India has slipped in the human development index. He said even now some 233 million people in the country remain hungry; four million were unemployed and 16 crore families had a wage lower than Rs. 3 a day. Though not comparable, a cow in the United States gets feed worth a minimum of $ 2, he said.

Criticising the address for being silent on several issues such as land reforms, women's reservation bill and commitment to provide minimum wages to agricultural workers, Mr. Chandrappan termed the Government's record as "dismal" in the conduct of foreign policy.

The President's address made no mention of land reforms, he said, adding that only the Left parties-run State Governments had a good record on this count. Similarly, he sought to know the Government's commitment in enacting reservation for women in legislatures and Parliament.

When BJP member Kharabela Swain rose to state that the Left parties had given tickets to just 11 women among 294 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi could not suppress a smile.

Minimum wages bill

Reacting to his charge that the Government had not moved forward on legislation to provide minimum wages for farm workers, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs B.K. Handique said the Government planned to bring a bill for unorganised workers in the second part of the Budget session.

Adhir Chowdhury (Congress) attacked the Left parties and charged that the approach in West Bengal was different than that at the Centre. Kirip Chaliah (Congress) criticised the BJP for attempting to raise divisive issues and said its hope to cash in on differences between the Congress and the Left would be dashed.

In the Rajya Sabha, C. Ramachandraiah (Telugu Desam) cautioned the Government on the Sixth Pay Commission, saying that the State Government had yet to recover from the impact of the previous commission.

Domestic consumption

Expressing concern over the leapfrog growth of the services sector compared to the manufacturing sector, he said unless the economic condition of the common people improved they cannot utilise the services. "Let domestic consumption take precedence over the export market," he said.

He criticised the foreign policy and said the Government had moved away from the non-aligned policy of Jawaharlal Nehru and closer to the United States. He also raised the removal of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the Petroleum Ministry and wanted to know if it was linked to pressure from the United States.

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