Exit plan: CPM writes to Kovind, Modi

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has sent an economic roadmap needs to be initiated immediately by the Centre to President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The party economy was already in the grip of a severe slowdown, bordering on the recession, with largescale fall in production, job loss, agrarian distress and a steep rise in unemployment on the eve of the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and the lockdown has worsened miseries of the people. The party suggested immediate tasks, medium-term measures. and the long term measures to address the crisis. "How long this distress will continue is not known; but to start with, the central government must make available to every non-income-tax paying household ₹7,500 per month for a period of three months, and to every individual 10 kg of free grains per month for a period of six months," it said.

The total sum required for such cash and food transfers for the respective periods is estimated to be about 3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, on the assumption of a 20 per cent voluntary “dropout” by the rich from the list of beneficiaries, it said. It suggested a wealth tax and a tax on the super-rich and said this entire expenditure has to be financed by borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India.

The party said the Centre must make the grain transfers available to the states free, and the cash transfers in the form of grants. "A pro-rata doubling of the borrowing limit of each state should, in fact, be an immediate step, and they should be allowed to borrow from the central bank rather than the open market," it said. "Lifesaving vaccinations for our children and vaccinations for pregnant mothers must be ensured to continue along with our fight against the pandemic. Along with that shortage of drugs, blood etc also needs to be addressed on a war footing," the letter to President and Prime Minister said.

On the issue of a significant amount of fresh Special Drawing Rights (SDR) by the IMF, the party said instead of illogically opposing such an issue, as the government has done, India should actively support it. "Unlike all loans, including the Swap Lines of the US Federal Reserve Board, the SDRs are non-discriminatory, non-discretionary, interest-free, non-repayable, and do not entail either any 'conditionalities' or any arm-twisting," the CPI(M) said.

It urged the Centre to extend MGNREGS to the urban areas where employment under the urban scheme could include jobs in small enterprises, especially those supplying essential goods and services.

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