Sanctions will not affect any project: Sinha
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said no project in the Budget would be jeopardised due the sanctions as India was not borrowing from the US banks.
He promised to take Parliament into
confidence in the event of harsh international sanctions following the Pokhran nuclear tests.
Replying to the Budget discussions in the Rajya Sabha today, the finance minister said his Budget papers did not mention the impact of sanctions because the only country to impose sanctions on India was the United States. ''Even the US is yet to define the nature of sanctions.''
He said he would take the whole country into confidence in the event of any harsh sanctions and would work as one single entity.
On the criticism that the Budget is silent on the sanctions, he said this was because there was nothing that would affect the current Budget. At best the US sanctions could have ''general
impact.''
Some countries extending bilateral assistance to India had deferred their funding for new projects, he added.
He said the projections in the Budget were made on a realistic assessment of economic factors.
''I don't say all my projections would never change. But, at the same time, these are not the projects that would change drastically making the projections fall by the wayside.''
He said he could not be a ''prophet of doom'' imagining worst things for the country.
About inflation, he said, ''We are very much concerned like others and there would be constant monitoring to check it.''
Sinha said the Budget philosophy was in tune with the national agenda for governance which promised internal liberalisation and increased focus on
agriculture, rural development and housing.
Refuting the charge that the Budget was anti-farmer, Sinha asserted that a number of steps had been taken to protect the farmers's interests. Among them was the introduction of the Kisan Credit Card which would enable farmers to take advantage of the
banking system.
UNI
Budget '98
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