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New Delhi: Various affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) did not hold back as they presented Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with their wish lists for the 2023-24 budget, which she will present on February 1 next year, ThePrint has learnt.
From setting up 51 cow-focused universities, to an inflation-linked hike in the minimum income to support farmers under the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, to measures to discourage Chinese imports, to creating more jobs — these are just a fraction of the demands of the Sangh Parivar body during Sitharaman’s pre-budget consultations with several stakeholder groups, held between November 21 and 28.
While the RSS is the ideological wellspring of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the organization and its affiliates have not always been fully aligned with the government’s fiscal policy and have occasionally called for realignment.
For example, last year the RSS passed a resolution on the “Bharatiya Economic Model” to address the unemployment crisis, increasing aatmanirbharta (self-sustainability) through promoting domestic industry and reducing the emphasis on foreign direct investment (FDI).
Some of these themes were also evident in submissions to the government this month by RSS-affiliated affiliates, including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (a trade union), the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (which represents farmers’ interests) and the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (which promotes economic self-sufficiency).
Also read: Prudence to Populism — Why Modi Govt Must Resist Big Schemes in Budget 2023
Demands for the welfare of farmers, rural growth
In a consultative meeting held on November 22 where agricultural bodies with Sitharaman, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) presented a list of demands to reduce farmers’ distress and encourage agrarian entrepreneurship.
Speaking to ThePrint, BKS general secretary Mohini Mohan Mishra, who was present at the meeting, said the body pointed out that farmers were food producers but many of the inputs they used were subject to GST. Further, they did not get any input tax credit.
“How can farmers’ income be increased if we do not somehow reduce their distress?” Mishra said, adding that the BKU had called for provisions including input tax credit for farmers and abolition of GST on agricultural inputs.
Further, instead of channeling subsidies through fertilizer manufacturers, the government should give them to farmers as direct benefit transfers (DBTs), Mishra said.
Another demand of the BKS was to link the minimum income support to farmers of Rs 6,000 per annum under the Prime Minister-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme with inflation and increase it accordingly.
“It is a very popular scheme but it was started in 2018-19. Since then, the input costs of agriculture have increased due to inflation; its ceiling should be increased to reduce the stress of small farmers,” Mishra said.
The BKS has also proposed to increase the limit for kisan credit cards from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, while also giving cardholders a license to set up micro-food processing units without having to obtain a certificate from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
“Getting FSSAI certification is a lengthy process with many hurdles. The government already has information about kisan credit card holders and therefore they should be given permission to become entrepreneurs. It will help create jobs,” Mishra claims.
The farmers’ body Sangh also offered some suggestions to help boost organic farming, noting that Modi described it as the basis for economic success.
To this end, BKS has proposed the establishment of 51 universities to build research and knowledge on organic cow-based agriculture, and help promote it across the country. This, Mishra argues, would also facilitate entrepreneurship in rural areas.
Finally, BKS raised the issue of the scheme for the development of 22,000 haats (village markets) into gramin agricultural markets (GrAM). This scheme was announced by the late former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget 2018-19. with an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore.
A BKS official told ThePrint that the major part of this allocation remained unspent and the scheme should get a fresh impetus to generate employment in the rural sector.
Pushing the old pension plan, hiking for the elderly
The RSS’s labor wing, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), was part of the November 28 pre-Budget meeting of trade union representatives.
One of the main demands of the BMS was to bring back the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees — ironically mirroring the poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
The OPS was phased out in 2004 and replaced by the National Pension Scheme (NPS), leading to several agitations as the new scheme has fewer benefits for employees.
Speaking to ThePrint, BMS general secretary Ravindra Himte said the organization has also demanded social security, minimum health insurance and pension for all workers through the policy framework.
“Government has details of about 28 million unorganized sector workers on the e-SHRAM portal… there is a need to allocate funds for social security schemes for them. “Unorganized workers can be granted a pension that is 50 percent of their last drawn salary,” Himte said.
According to him, the focus of the budget should be on the introduction of social schemes for the unorganized sector, as well as on the promotion of rural, micro and small industries.
The BMS also claimed that although the Union government increased the salaries of ASHAs (which stands for Accredited Social Health Activist) and anganwadi workers in 2018, the states did not always disburse the payments appropriately. These countries, it is said, should be “warned”.
The RSS branch also raised the issue of the employee pension plan (EPS-95), for which it protested in January, repeating its demand that the minimum pension be raised from RSD 1,000 to RSD 5,000 per month. It should benefit all pensioners who are entitled to 70 million.
For senior citizens, the BMS has advocated for raising the limit of fixed deposit scheme for senior citizens from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and also bringing back rail travel concessions.
The BMS further proposed to legislate for all government welfare schemes like Ayushman Bharat and Prime Minister-Kisan Samman Nidhi so that no future dispensation can stop them midway.
A call to ‘self-reliance’
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), which is another affiliate of the RSS working to promote the interests of local traders and small industries, has asked the finance minister to increase tariffs to discourage imports of essential items from China. SJM was part of Sitharaman’s consultation with economists on November 28.
In Budget 2022, Sitharaman introduced higher duties on several such items, including umbrellas and imitation jewellery.
Ashwini Mahajan, national co-convenor of SJM, told ThePrint that the body reinforced that the budget should implement the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, or independent India.
“Chinese imports should be discouraged to increase production in small industries and create new jobs.” Tariffs on Chinese goods should be increased,” he said
The Swadeshi lobby also suggested that stress in the rural sector could be eased by making more budgetary provisions for non-agricultural activities such as fisheries, horticulture and allied services.
“Since wages are very low in the rural sector, there is a lot of migration from the countryside to the cities.” We need to make provisions for job creation in rural India,” Mahajan said.
He added that another suggestion made to Sitharaman was to make R&D expenditure mandatory by the corporate sector. This, Mahajan said, could be implemented as the country’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) law, which mandates that companies earning more than a certain amount must spend a percentage of their profits on social welfare initiatives.
“It will create a whole new horizon for the country’s research-based ecosystem,” he added.
‘Semi-Final Budget’
While the worst of India’s pandemic-related economic turmoil appears to be behind it, growth still hasn’t reached pre-Covid levels, leading to a somewhat bleak outlook for incomes and employment.
Amid an international slowdown, a war between Russia and Ukraine and little room for tax relief, Sitharaman will have to strike a precarious balance between fiscal prudence and infrastructure pressure, especially with elections next year in Karnataka, Telangana and the Hindi-central states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior BJP leader said the government is aware of the challenges ahead.
“Consumption will be key to the recovery of the economy, and employment is a challenge that needs to be solved in the upcoming budget.” Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed 71,000 appointment letters to the youth (as part of the Rozgar Mela scheme)… so the government is aware of the issue,” he said.
Another BJP leader said both inflation and unemployment could prove to be major problems in the poll-bound states. “The party will have to see how the budget should be distributed to increase employment and infrastructure in these key states.” The focus should be on the rural economy,” he said, pointing out that 116 of the total 543 seats in the Lok Sabha are falling in states going to polls next year. “It will be the semi-final budget before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
(edited by Asavari Singh)
Also read: This week’s GDP data will indicate the outlook for the 23rd fiscal year. But analysis shows growth still below pre-Covid years
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