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03.08.2010
truck or train and consequently the cost of goods goes up and it results in
increased prices and naturally the fuel price hike is a painful thing.
Sir, when our oil marketing companies were suffering, when our public
sector oil companies were suffering – the Left Parties speak very high of the
public sector companies. The model public sector companies were created in this
country by the Congress Government; it is the policy of the Congress Government
and not of anybody else – when they were in the verge of bankruptcy, the
Government collected tax and supplemented the income of these companies
thereby. I do not know whether Shrimati Sushma Swaraj read the balance sheet or
not. The Government is subsidising the companies. The companies showed profit
with the help of that subsidy. The hon. Finance Minister has already clarified that.
But still they were not convinced. They do not want to be convinced. But if the tax
structure is modernised, scientifically revised, even now the prices can be brought
down. De-regulation of fuel prices is a part of an on-going process of tax reform in
this country. We have not done it with any amount of happiness.
Sir, today what is needed is food security. The National Advisory
Committee under Shrimati Sonia Gandhi has suggested that the head count is not
correct. Reports of some Committees are being cited here. If the reports of these
Committees are taken together and considered, then we can reach a uniform
conclusion. If the number of people below poverty line is not 6 crore and if it is 10
crore, the Government is ready to consider that. If 9 crore plus families are to be
provided food at subsidised rate, then also this Government can afford that.
Sir, what was the position of this country in 1991? I was a Member of this
House then. Shri Advani, I am sure, will remember and since he is a statesman he
will understand, rising above political considerations, that this country was almost
in a bankrupt condition. My friends in the Left, since 1991, were opposing
liberalisation. My friend from the Left was referring to China. Now, if there is
public resentment in China, then that public resentment will not find expression.
Why? The answer is the Tinanmen Square episode. But in India there is every
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