PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 841
(45)
BUDGET (GENERAL) 1952-53 GENERAL DISCUSSION
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay) : Mr. Chairman, I propose to begin from the point from which I had to leave off, before, my observations on the President’s Address. The House will remember that when I had to break off, I was dealing with the question of food subsidy. Today I find myself in a much better position to deal with the matter, because in the interval we have had a statement from the Finance Minister justifying why he has taken what might be called a ‘political roundabout’. The explanation that the Finance Minister has given is an explanation which I think is more intended to frighten people from demanding any subsidy with regard to food. His explanation is this, that if he at all must do anything in the matter of food subsidy, he must do it in a manner so that he might be able to maintain the price level at the level it stood in the last year. That is, I believe, his starting premise. And then he develops this premise by saying that if on the basis that the subsidy is given only if he maintains the last year’s price level, if the subsidy is to be confined to industrial areas, he would be required to pay Rs. 60 crores; and if that subsidy is to be extended to the rural area, he will be required to pay Rs. 90 crores. Obviously if these figures are correct, they are quite calculated to moderate the spirit of the great enthusiasts who want some kind of food subsidy to be given, so that the misery of the cosuming classes may be alleviated to some extent. So far as I understand, nobody has pitched his flag so high as it has been represented to be by the Finance Minister. So far as I have been able to pursue the discussion that has been taking place in the various newspapers, nobody has said that you must give subsidy to such an extent and on such a magnitude that the price level of this year would be the same as the price level of last year. Nobody is
P. D. Vol. I of 1952, 27th May 1952, pp. 469-80.