Focus Not Just on Revenue but on Eliminating Inequalities: Suresh Reddy

Hyderabad: BRS floor leader in Parliament K.R. Suresh Reddy on Thursday called on the Centre to pay attention not just to revenue generation but also how the generated revenue is translating into action that will eliminate inequalities.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to Parliament, Suresh Reddy said the “growing inequality is a major concern. And two of the fundamental reasons for this growing inequality are issues related to land, and water.” That these inequalities are rising by the year, needs attention, Suresh Reddy said.

Making a specific reference to Paragraph 11 in the President’s address, Suresh Reddy said it referred to express reforms. It spoke about reforms in GST, reforms in I-T. Calling the reforms commendable, Suresh Reddy pointed out that while some measures are beneficial to small farmers and the poor in buying their daily commodities, and that the tax measures could be helpful to the middle class, “these are all revenue generations for the government. But what fundamentally is required today is to address the growing inequalities.”

The BRS floor leader also raised the issue of the time being taken by various river disputes tribunals in issuing their final awards which, he said, were hampering states, and was resulting in 50 per cent of water from all rivers going waste into the sea. The express reforms need to address issues such as these too, he said, adding that though such boards have existed now for 70 years, the progress has been very slow, and “unfortunately, nothing works. This is where the political will has to come in and this is where paragraph 11 should come in and this is where the Prime Minister should intervene.”

The solution to such problems is political convergence, and the earlier National Development Council which was a platform for such issues, had last met in 2012 after which Niti Aayog came into being. Though Niti Aayog did come up with some ideas, their implementation leaves much to be desired as “it is powerless,” he said.

Suresh Reddy also spoke about how Telangana led by BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has contributed to India becoming the largest rice producer in the world, adding that the state which emerged as the biggest rice producer in the country under BRS rule, helped India achieve the status.