Speeches in 2004:

Date: 20-12-2004
SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, today, we sit in this august House to discuss the Supplementary Budget of 2004-05. We have an able and a capable Finance Minister in this country today. He has to his credit many firsts.

Earlier, when he was the Finance Minister, he had been successful in achieving some underlying, some noble things which everybody expected he would repeat in this term also. We are still expecting and waiting for him to work some wonders which in the last 6 or 7 months, as of now, we do not seem to have benefited from his bright ideas and his experience.

Sir, I would like to concentrate first on my State Orissa which has been consistently considered to be a poor State. But, as you all know, all the States of the East, namely, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam are not poor States. Intrinsically, these are very rich States, if you take into consideration their natural resources, and the amount of fresh water that flows through these States. If you take the human resource aspect also into consideration, we will all be happy to note that these States are very developed States. But, in the past, a lot of wrong was done to the Eastern part of the country, especially to States like Orissa. We are all aware about something called ‘freight equalisation’. As far as freight equalisation is concerned, as you know, at the production head, whether it was coal or steel or iron ore or aluminium or manganese or whatever it may be, when they were produced or mined in Orissa or in Bihar and shipped to Mumbai or Ludhiana or Salem, the cost was the same as at the production head, thereby implying that the States in the Eastern part of this country like Orissa always subsidised in this country and it is these States which have built up this nation brick by brick. But, in return, today, what we see is that successive Union Governments, – except a small portion that the NDA ruled – federal Governments of India have always neglected the Eastern part of this country. Today, even the present Government has not fared better.

A State like Orissa does not only need money. As far as money is concerned, of course, we should get what we deserve. For example, they have not reviewed coal royalty, they have not tried to concentrate on our irrigation projects. They have not financed or funded sufficiently our irrigation projects, our infrastructure projects, thereby not only have the successive Central Governments taken away the wealth of States like Orissa, they have also, on the other hand, tried to push up and keep us as if we were waiting somewhere at the back burner, and we do not have a right to be an active part of this nation.

Sir, infrastructure development in the Eastern parts of India has been consistently dwindling in terms of funding in all successive Plans. It is evident even in the last Budget, it is evident throughout this Plan, and we are yet to see what the next Plan bodes us.

Except Assam and some parts of the North-East, Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal and Orissa, as I said earlier, all have much more water resources. They are rich in minerals and their human resources are yet to be exploited. I am repeating this with an intention that these aspects need to be underlined so that whichever Party comes to power at the Centre has to keep this in mind that unless you reach an even keel in this nation, no development is genuine or no development is sustainable.

For instance, let us look at the bank deposits in a State like Orissa. The State Bank of India alone had collected around Rs. 4,000 crore in the year 2002-03 as deposits. The Government deposits, individual deposits and all kinds of deposits put together come to Rs. 4,000 crore, out of which, the re-investment in the State was a meagre 16 per cent. It just shows that the banks in States like Orissa do not wish to re-finance agricultural projects, and they do not want to finance small-scale industries or medium-scale industries. The money collected is collected in Orissa or Bihar or Bengal but it is invested somewhere else, thereby making our people even poorer. So, it is time that we take a thorough look at where we are driving this country. We are in a State where backwardness and under-development have resulted in extreme naxalism. Sir, as you are aware, naxalism or activities connected with naxalites prosper when there is utter and abject poverty. When people are poor, when the villages are poor, and when the common man is looking for his daily meal, he is frustrated, he is hungry, he is willing to take up arms against anything that, he thinks, is slightly connected with establishment. So, when we are thinking of fighting naxalism with guns and with police, we are blissfully unaware that the problem does not lie with the bullets or the guns of the naxalites. The problem lies with poverty, no education or low education, and abject deprivation. If we meet these points, then we need not fight naxalites only with bullets, we could clean out their base and we could create a situation where it would be difficult for such elements to thrive.

Sir, I have a suggestion. Suppose, the federal Government thinks that it would link say, Ranchi with Vijayawada with a four-lane national highway, that would touch many religious places, it would touch mineral resource bases, and it would go through the heartland of naxalism. When they are planning for a red corridor, if the federal Government, the Union Government of India plans for a proper national highway, then we will be able to beat them at their own game.

We will take the benefits to the society. With your so-called liberalism, your so-called open economy for the poorest of the poor in Eastern India, and with the road that would come, development, education and work would infuse wealth into those areas, but unfortunately what I find is that in successive Budgets and successive Plans, we preferred to remain blissfully unaware. We are not trying to meet certain basic demands of this country for which we are spending our energies, our resources in such a manner that they do not give us the fruits that the people are expecting. That is why, when most of us go to elections, when you go back to your constituency, people are constantly dissatisfied. They are asking all of us what the Government is doing, and our answer is that the Government is incapable, it is inept. So, it is like butter on bread. Everyone likes the thick coating of butter on his slice of bread. Here, the Indian Budget has successfully squandered away his spending. It is thinly spread out in all spheres.

We notice smaller countries like Thailand and Oman which have concentrated in two years’ period or three years’ period on particular projects, say, health, education and infrastructure. Infrastructure means, roads and ports. By doing it like that, what they have attained is a supremacy in those spheres where they have concentrated.

MR. CHAIRMAN : Please conclude.

SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I have nearly concluded. Some speakers before me have mentioned this. I would like to reiterate and pinpoint here that a project like the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana, like four-laning and six-laning of the National Highways was not a political party’s agenda. It was not something that the former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee could have put in his pocket and taken it home. It was a wealth that was being built for the nation. He had the vision. But if somebody has a vision and the Government changes, let us not destroy a vision. Let us concentrate on the good things, no matter which Party started it, which political motive was behind it. A good thing is always good.

As we have seen, in this Budget these projects have been sidelined, especially the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. In my constituency, Dhenkanal of Orissa, I have seen in deep interior villages concrete roads that could be comparable to the concrete roads of Bombay or even some smaller roads of the USA. They are of that quality, but the project has come to a complete standstill. There is no work being carried out now.

In conclusion, I would request the Government to please widen your vision, think beyond petty political boundaries and give a break to this nation.