PRE-BUDGET CONSULTATION WITH FM ON June 6, the finance minister of the government of India called all the central trade union organisations for a pre-budget consultation. At the meeting, all the central trade union organisations submitted a joint memorandum to the finance minister detailing the burning issues facing the working people of the country; the memorandum also put forward suggestions of the trade unions to address the problems in the process of the budgetary exercise.  The meeting was attended by finance minister Arun Jailley and minister of state for finance Ms Nirmala Sitaraman along with the secretaries of the finance ministry as well as labour ministry. The central trade unions were represented by B N Rai and Upadhyay (BMS), Chandraprakash Singh and Shantakumar (INTUC), Amarjeet Kaur and D L Sachdeva (AITUC), Sharad Rao and Harbhajan Singh Sidhu (HMS), Tapan Sen and Swadesh Dev Roye (CITU), Sankar Saha (AIUTUC), Abani Roy (UTUC), S P Tewari (TUCC), Sammugham (LPF) and Santosh Roy (AICCTU), among others. DIRECTIONAL CHANGE REQUIRED While presenting the trade unions’ views before the finance minister. Tapan Sen, general secretary of the CITU, pointed out that the joint memorandum of all the central trade unions in the country reflected the serious concerns of the working people of the country in its entirety --- of those who create GDP for the country, resources for the country’s exchequer and also profit for the employers. The trade unions’ joint memorandum urged upon the government to bring about a directional change away from the path of deregulation and privatisation, away from the policies promoting  price rise of essential commodities and facilitating speculation, patronisation of systematic deliberate default in tax payment by the big business and corporate houses, state sponsored and patronised violation of all basic labour laws on minimum wages, social security, trade union rights, safety in workplaces, mass scale contractisation etc,  and reckless opening of strategic and sensitive sectors of the national economies including public utilities for exploitation by foreign companies and speculators etc. The same set of policies have been followed by the previous Congress led government --- all in the name of promoting employment generating investment from private sector, both domestic and foreign, to facilitate growth and employment creation, which finally landed the country into a deeper economic crisis, aggravation of unemployment and job losses, fuelling price rise and widespread impoverishment and dwindling growth rates. The urgent need of the hour is a directional change in policy regime in the form of a complete ban on speculation in commodity market and universalisation of the public distribution system (PDS), augmenting public investment in agriculture, infrastructure and public utilities, strengthening and empowering  of public sectors units in strategic and sensitive sectors of economy including financial sector, energy, defence,  and natural resources and complete stoppage of all disinvestment and privatisation moves and concrete steps and budgetary support for revival of sick but potentially viable public sector undertakings (PSUs), Tapan Sen asserted. It was also pointed out that all the central trade unions have been jointly struggling, pressing for their ten-point demands, and on many of them there has already been a consensus at tripartite forums including in the successive Indian Labour Conferences till 2013. Issues of consensus are formulation of a minimum wage (which at the present price level should not be less than Rs 15,000 per month), universalisation of social security including pension, regularisation of all scheme workers in Anganwadi, mid-day meal, ASHA, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and other similar centrally funded schemes, same wage and benefits for the contract workers in line with regular workers etc. Sen demanded that the central budget must make provisions for meeting these demands, on which there has been consensus at the highest tripartite level (comprising all governments, trade unions and employers’ organisations) like the Indian Labour Conference for the sake of propriety and fairness. The finance minister thanked the trade union representatives for their suggestions and submissions.    Text of the joint memorandum submitted by the trade unuions follows.   TRADE UNION PROPOSALS  WE welcome you over your takeover as finance minister of the new government formed on verdict of the people of India and thank you for having invited the central trade unions representing the most important stake holder, the working men and women of this country, in both organised and unorganised sector, to this pre-budget consultations. We wish that our candid observations, considered views and concrete proposals are taken in the right spirit and responded with all seriousness and given appropriate reflections in the ensuing budget 2014-15. Some of these specific proposals have time and again been placed by us in various policy making fora including the earlier pre-budget consultations. However, we would like to reiterate them, urging your positive response. 1) Take effective measures to arrest the spiralling price rise and to contain inflation. Ban speculative forward trading in commodities. Universalise and strengthen the public distribution system. Ensure proper check on hoarding. Rationalise, with a view to reducing the burden on people, the tax, duty, cess on petroleum products. 2) There must be massive investment in the infrastructure in order to stimulate the economy for job creation. It is our considered view that the public sector should take the leading role in this regard. The plan and non-plan expenditure should be increased in the budget to stimulate jobs creation and guarantee consistent income to people. 3) Minimum wage linked to consumer price index must be guaranteed to all workers, taking into consideration the recommendations of the 15th Indian Labour Conference as enriched by apex court of the country as reiterated in the 44th ILC in 2012. In any case, it should not be less than Rs15,000 per month. 4) FDI should not be allowed in crucial sectors like defence production, telecommunications, railways, financial sector, retail trade, education, health and media. 5) The public sector units played a crucial role during the year of severe contraction of private capital investment immediately following the outbreak of global financial crisis. PSUs should be strengthened and expanded. Disinvestment of shares of profit making public sector units should be stopped forthwith. Budgetary support should be given for revival of potentially viable sick central PSUs 6) In view of huge job-losses and mounting unemployment problem, the ban on recruitment in government departments, PSUs and autonomous institutions (including the finance ministry’s recent instruction to abolish those posts not filled for one year) should be lifted as recommended by 43rd session of Indian Labour Conference. Condition of surrender of posts in government departments and PSUs should be scrapped and new posts created keeping in view the new work and increased workload. 7) Proper allocation of funds be also made for interim relief and seventh pay commission. 8) The scope of MGNREGA be extended to agricultural operations and urban areas as well and employment for a minimum period of 200 days with guaranteed statutory wage be provided, as unanimously recommended by 43rd session of Indian Labour Conference. 9) The massive workforce engaged in ICDS, mid-day meal scheme, Vidya volunteers, guest teachers, Siksha Mitra, the workers engaged in the Accredited Social Health Activities (ASHA) and other schemes be regularised. No to privatisation of centrally funded schemes. Universalisation of ICDS must be done as per Supreme Court directions by making adequate budgetary allocations. 10) Steps must be taken for removal of all restrictive provisions based on poverty line in respect of eligibility coverage of the schemes under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008 and allocation of adequate resources for the National Fund for Unorganised Workers to provide for social security to all unorganised workers including the contract, casual and migrant workers in line with the recommendations of parliamentary standing committee on labour and also the 43rd session of Indian Labour Conference. 11) Remunerative prices should be ensured for the agricultural produce and government/public investment in agriculture sector must be substantially augmented as a proportion of GDP and total budgetary expenditure. It should also be ensured that benefits of the increase reach the small, marginal and medium cultivators only. 12) Budgetary provision should be made for providing essential services including housing, public transport, sanitation, water, schools, crèche health care etc to workers in the new emerging industrial areas. Working women’s hostels should be set up where there is a concentration of women workers. 13) Requisite budgetary support for addressing crisis in traditional sectors like jute, textiles, plantation, handloom, carpet and coir etc. 14) Budgetary provision for elementary education should be increased, particularly in the context of implementation of the ‘Right to Education’ as this is the most effective tool to combat child labour. 15) The system of computation of consumer price index should be reviewed as the present index is causing heavy financial loss to the workers. 16) Income tax exemption ceiling for the salaried persons should be raised to Rs five lakh per annum and fringe benefits like housing, medical and educational facilities and running allowances should be exempted from the income tax net in totality. 17) Threshold limit of 20 employees in EPF scheme be brought down to 10 as recommended by CBT-EPFO. Pension benefits under EPS, unilaterally withdrawn by the government, should be restored. Government’s and employers’ contribution be increased to allow sustainability of employees pension scheme and for provision of minimum pension of Rs 3,000 p m. 18) New pension scheme be withdrawn and newly recruited employees of central and state governments on or after January 1, 2004 be covered under the old pension scheme. 19) Demand for dearness allowance merger for central government and PSU employees be accepted and adequate allocation of fund for this be made in the budget. 20) All interests and social security of the domestic workers to be statutorily protected on the lines of the ILO convention on domestic workers. 21) The cess management for construction workers is the responsibility of the finance ministry under the act and the several irregularities found in collection of cess be rectified as well as their proper utilisation must be ensured. RESOURCE MOBILISATION: THE STEPS REQUIRED In regard to resource mobilisation, we would like to emphasise the following: 1) A progressive taxation system should be put in place to ensure taxing the rich and the affluent sections who have the capacity to pay at a higher degree. The corporate service sector, traders, wholesale business, private hospitals and institutions etc. should be brought under broader and higher tax net. Increase taxes on luxury goods and reduce indirect taxes on essential commodities as at present the overwhelming majority of the populations are subjected to indirect taxes that constitute 86 percent of the revenue. 2) Concrete steps must be taken to recover huge accumulated unpaid tax arrears which has already crossed more than Rs five lakh crore on direct and corporate tax account alone, and has been increasing at a geometric proportion. Such huge tax evasions, over and above the liberal tax concessions already given in the last two budgets, should not be allowed to continue. 3) Effective measures should be taken to unearth huge accumulation of black money in the economy including the huge unaccounted money in tax heavens abroad and within the country. The finance minister should make provisions to bring back the illicit flows from India which are at present more than twice the current external debt of 230 billion US dollars. This money should be directed towards providing social security. 4) Concrete measures be expedited for recovering the NPAs of the banking system from the wilfully defaulting corporate and business houses. By making provision in Banking Regulations Act, CMDs and executives to be made accountable for creation of NPAs. 5) Tax on tong term capital gains to be introduced; so also higher taxes on the security transactions to be levied. 6) The rate of wealth tax, corporate tax, gift tax etc. to be expanded and enhanced. 7) ITES, outsourcing sector, educational institutions and health services etc, run on commercial basis, should be brought under the service tax net. 8) Small saving instruments under postal and other agencies be encouraged by incentivising the commission agents of these schemes. OUR SERIOUS CONCERN We would like to express our strong resentment that the previous government. failed to positively respond to the collective voice of the central trade unions on the very important issues concerning the working people of India, both organised and unorganised, consistently repeated in the form of a ‘10 point charter’ backed by several collective nationwide programmes. We expect that this government. will take initiative to discuss these issues with the central trade unions in order to find a solution. We also express our opposition to the so called banking reforms for encouraging private sector/capitalist banking at the cost of public sector banks which saved the economy to an extent during the last global financial meltdown. We also oppose increase in limit of FDI and disinvestment of equity in insurance sector and FDI in pension. We strongly oppose the FDI in defence and retail sector. Several such measures against the working men and women in this country including anti workers proposals contained in the new manufacturing policy have our strong opposition, as in our experience these kinds of measures have helped the growth of only a small section of the capitalists while the larger sections of the working population continue to be marginalised and impoverished.   POST-BUDGET MEETING WITH TRADE UNIONS Successive finance ministers have agreed to hold post-budget meetings or consultations with the central trade unions. However, it has not been materialised except for one occasion. We understand such meetings did take place with the corporate associations and employers federations. We would like to importunate upon you to arrange such post-budget meeting with trade unions also.