Vimala KS, vice president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), also a founding member of the Karnataka chapter of the AIDWA, found little remarkable in budget 2009 – it’s a “sugary-sweet budget for the upper middle class,” she says, adding that it ignores issues like the rise in prices, and the shrinking opportunities for quality healthcare and education for the poor.
“The hike in the income tax exemption limit is welcome, but this will prove a pro-corporate budget. There are major areas of concern—food security, rural employment guarantee and education—that should have received greater attention.”
“BPL families will expect to get 25 kg of rice or wheat at Rs3 per kg. BPL families are now entitled to get 35 kg of grain a month, and in the name of food security that quantity is being reduced. If a family needs grain in excess of 25 kg, it will have to buy it in the open market, where the price difference is large. There is need for the universalisation of the public distribution system—to make it a targeted one makes a mockery of food security. The government should provide ration cards to all sections of society—not all will use their ration cards, and the grain that is not taken from the PDS can be used by the needy.”
“Making food grains difficult to access will affect the poorest—women will find themselves in a tight spot, as they take the responsibility for feeding the family and often eat last. This is no pro-poor budget,” says Vimala.
Vimala said that even though the minimum wage under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) has increased from Rs88 to Rs100 for each day, the Act only guarantees work for 100 days to each household. That is hardly sufficient to keep a family well-fed for the rest of the year, Vimala claims. A large number of women benefit from the NREGA—according to Vimala, almost 90 per cent of the beneficiaries of the scheme are women.
According to Vimala, food security, rural employment and education have received little attention in budget 2009. Education has long served as a means of upward social mobility—but quality education is difficult to access for the poor, and the government has done little to ensure that poor children too can avail middle and higher education.
“How many people can now afford higher education?” she asks, wondering why this important means of social mobility has been left unaddressed.
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