Women activists urge Sinha not to tax essential goods

Women activists on Monday urged Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to spare the common man from any taxes on essential commodities in the 2002-03 Union Budget while hiking funds for development schemes and allocating 40 per cent of these for women.

In a memorandum to Sinha in New Delhi on Monday, the All India Democratic Women's Association said the government should fulfill its earlier commitment to provide at least six per cent of the GDP for education.

Expressing regret that the minister had not sought the views of women's groups and organisations, including the National Commission for Women, in his pre-Budget consultations, AIDWA said the process of globalisation had been cruel to women.

Considering that 150 million women in the unorganised sector required micro-credit for different reasons, the targets for this must be increased.

Observing that a large section of the poor comprise 'dalit' and 'adivasi' women, who shoulder a disproportionate share of poverty, AIDWA urged the minister to formulate special schemes to generate employment for rural women.

'Food for work' and employment generation schemes should be a major thrust of the Budget.

Stating that the current policies had led to a situation when India's poor were starving even as 66 million tonnes of foodgrains was rotting, the groups said the answer lay not in selling off the grains to private traders but to distribute it to the poor at reduced prices and also as part payment in employment generation schemes.

The Budget must seriously deal with the problem of drinking water supply and adopt its solution as a national priority.

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