NEW DELHI: Questioning the “bombastic claims made by the Manmohan Singh government concerning India having achieved the status of an “emerging economy”, the CPM on Thursday said the country’s malnutrition figures are a matter of “national shame”.
Singularly targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPM mouthpiece People’s Democracy says: “The Prime Minister, however, as can only be expected, remained silent over the bombastic claims made by his government over the so-called great success of 20 years of economic reforms ushered by him.” According to it, though the Prime Minister spoke in terms of revealing some startling news to the country, these findings are nothing new.
“If the Prime Minister is really serious about changing this dismal future of India, then steps must be taken to universalise the primary health care for all. This requires that at least 3 per cent of our GDP must be spent on health care,” it says.
Much more than these amounts is, however, currently being foregone from being legitimately collected as tax revenue by this government. This came to a staggering `14,28,028 crore during the last three years. Of this, `3,63,875 crore have been concessions to the corporates and the rich, the CPM blames.
“Therefore, unless this trajectory of neo-liberal ‘reforms’ is reversed, no substantial dent can be made in improving the health of our people and, hence, of our country”, the CPM says.