Modi govt not populist even in election year: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has refuted charges that it is resorting to populist measures by going for supplementary demand for grants that will hit the exchequer by Rs 59.5 billion.

Replying to a debate, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said in the Lok Sabha the supplementary showed “this (demand for grants) is the lowest ever in the past 15 years. It is just 0.2 per cent of the total Budget, compared to 14 per cent in 2008-09 (the election year in the UPA’s tenure).” The House later passed the first batch of supplementary demand for FY19.

He said it was rather the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government which has widened the Centre’s fiscal deficit by a huge margin, compared to the Budget Estimates (BE) in election years.

“The UPA handed down the fiscal deficit at 4.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to us. We brought it down to an estimated 3.3 per cent in the current financial year,” Goyal said.

From ITC to Dabur, plastic waste control top priority for FMCG firms

If demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) gave sleepless nights to consumer goods makers till early-2018, for the past few months it has been plastic packaging materials that are ringing alarm bells for these firms. 

The issue of pollution caused due to the non-degradable material is keeping consumer goods majors — from ITC and Dabur to Nestlé and PepsiCo — on their toes. While the matter had been flagged by environmentalists years ago, the Centre is now scurrying to put curbs on untreated plastic waste — most of which is produced by organised fast moving consumer good players (FMCGs). 

The governments in at least five states — Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Gujarat — have declared a ban on single-use plastic materials with varying timelines. And at the central level, a joint body — comprising the urban development ministry and ministry of environment and forest — is acting fast to finalise the extent of responsibility manufacturers would have to take based on the extent of plastic they use in packaging. 

Cong to take on Modi over charges against Manmohan as Winter Session begins

The government is ready to discuss all the issues, including those to be raised by the Opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said here on Thursday, adding that he would request all the MPs to work "full time" to dispose of the business. 

"The government is ready to discuss and debate any issue. Several issues would be raised by the opposition and the government would obviously give its response," he said when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's allegations against his predecessor Manmohan Singh and others vis-a-vis their meeting with Pakistani diplomats would disrupt the Houses.

"It is also the opposition's responsibility to run Parliament. The Prime Minister has sought opposition's cooperation for smooth functioning of Parliament," he said.

Ananth Kumar said 25 Bills are listed in the Lok Sabha and 39 Bills are pending in the Rajya Sabha which would be taken up and disposed of "according to priority".

The most important business would be the Supplementary Demands for Grants, which is the first one after the implementation of GST; the 123rd Constitutional Amendment for setting up of National Commission for Backward Classes as a constitutional body; and the Bill against triple talaaq, he said.
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