The CPM is stepping up heat on the government on its economic policies. In the latest issue of People’s Democracy, it turns the spotlight on unemployment: “The Eleventh Plan contains a separate chapter on employment which shows that, leave alone the backlog of unemployment in the country, the employment growth has lagged behind the growth of the workforce during the Tenth Plan period. Thus, the backlog of unemployment is increasing. What is required is massive doses of public investment that can provide large-scale employment and, at the same time, also build the much-needed economic and social infrastructure. Though the Eleventh Plan envisages a 120.5 per cent increase in plan expenditure over the Tenth Plan, the fact is that during the Tenth Plan, only 82.5 per cent of projected investment could take place. Thus, if these targets need to be reached, then resources need to be mobilised adequately. This, however, is being planned not through increases in tax revenues, but through the reduction in non-plan expenditures, particularly subsidies meant to give some relief to the poor. On the other hand, according to the finance ministry estimates, during the Tenth Plan period, Rs 2.35 lakh crore were denied to the exchequer, thanks to a host of tax concessions. Instead of removing these concessions that only benefit the rich, the Eleventh Plan talks in terms of imposing further burdens on the common people through cuts in non-plan expenditures and subsidies. The hiatus between the two Indias, that we spoke of earlier, is, thus, set to widen further.”

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