Total sell-off of India's precious natural resources, assets: CPI on economic package

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Sunday hit out at the Centre by calling the slew of measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a "total sell-off of India's precious natural resources and assets".

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Sunday hit out at the Centre by calling the slew of measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a "total sell-off of India's precious natural resources and assets". "The CPI is of the view that the slew of measures announced by the Finance Minister following the Prime Minister's address to the nation are a total sell-off of India's precious natural resources and assets. It is a brazen surrender to the US by raising FDI limit in defence production to 74 per cent," the CPI said in a statement.

Stating that role of public sector enterprises is made "minimum and nil", the party said, "Allowing the private and corporate sector to participate in the strategic sectors like space, atomic power, coal and minerals is detrimental to country's economic sovereignty. Even in non-strategic sectors, the role of public sector enterprises is made minimum and nil. On such major policy matters, the Parliament is completely bypassed." The CPI alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government has made all efforts "aggressively to impose its neo-liberal economic agenda".

"At the time of COVID-19 crisis, the Modi government makes all efforts aggressively to impose its neo-liberal economic agenda that is privatisation and corporatisation of the economy. The people of India are wise enough to understand that self-reliance is not selling off of the national interest," the party said. Cornering the government for not providing adequate funds and financial support to states to support during COVID-19 crisis, the CPI said, "Asking state governments to take loans instead of providing them adequate funds and financial support is nothing but an abdication of responsibility by the central government. This has exposed the so-called cooperative federalism of Modi."

"The worst affected migrant workers, daily wage earners and poor people are left in hunger and despair," it added. The CPI has already given a call for a nationwide protest on May 19 against the "anti-people, anti-worker and anti-national reforms" of the Modi government.

Under the final tranche of the economic package, Sitharaman earlier today announced that the Centre has allocated an additional amount of Rs 40,000 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).She also announced that public expenditure on health will be increased and a dedicated hospital block for treatment of infectious diseases will be set up in each district across the country. (ANI)

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