Expressing serious concern over huge cut in budgetary allocations for minorities and reducing fertilizer and petroleum subsidies, India’s premier Muslim body Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has said that the Union Budget 2023-24 appears to serve the interests of the corporates.
Addressing a monthly press briefing in the national capital on February 4, JIH Vice-President Prof. Mohammed Salim Engineer said that reducing budget allocation for minorities from Rs. 5,020.5 crores to Rs. 2,612.6 crores indicated that it was not in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “sab ka saath, sab ka vikas.”
A cut in subsidy on fertilizer would result in a rise in the cost of foodgrain production and a cut in petroleum subsidy would cause a further rise in inflation, both affecting the poor people forming the majority of the Indian population.
Stating that allocation for health and education in the budget for the current fiscal was merely 2.1 percent and 2.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Prof Salim demanded that it be raised to at least 3 percent and 6 percent of GDP, respectively.
JIH also expressed serious concern over the manner in which corporate governance in India has taken a severe beating in the last few days.
Without naming Adani Enterprises, the JIH leader said that a prominent business house lost more than $100 billion in market value at the mere publishing of an evaluation report by a foreign research firm. Investors, he said, lost more than one lakh crore in 10 firms owned by the corporate house. Prof. Salim demanded that the government should clarify and explain its position on the issue.
The JIH leader said that the appointment of judges must not be influenced by Parliament or politicians. He demanded that the appointment of judges be based on merit and not on any other consideration. He said that if merit is ignored, it will have a very negative impact on the overall system of dispensation of justice.
Prof. Salim expressed concern over governors in some of the states allegedly acting as workers and activists of the ruling party at the Centre. He said that governors being custodians of the Constitution, must work as per the Constitutional norms and go by the advice of the Council of Ministers only, and not work as political representatives of the Central government. He said that there have been instances in which the governor of a state had acted in a partisan manner to help a certain political party. Giving example, he said that a governor issued a show cause notice to five vice-chancellors and demanded their resignation.