tribuneindia...Mailbag

THE Union Budget has come as a great shock to the salaried working class. Instead of providing much-needed tax relief in income-tax by at least increasing the standard deduction, the Finance Minister has levied an additional surcharge of 10 per cent affecting all wage-earners. These people have no concealed income.

A middle-level government servant, already under a lot of burden due to galloping prices, will have to think of ways and means to reduce his expenditure. Alternatively, he will be tempted to look for dishonest avenues to boost his income.

Under pressure from the allies, the Finance Minister has not shown the courage to tax the agricultural income, even of large farmers, about which there was so much of hulla-baloo.

However, the most shocking development is the increase in the price of diesel by Re 1. Even those with very short memories would remember that the price of diesel was reduced by Re 1 just prior to the launching of the Tata Indica car. Now that the car has been overbooked the time had come to increase the price of diesel. Isn’t the motive of the Finance Minister as clear as crystal. There is not much to guess what must have motivated the Finance Ministry to first reduce and then increase the price of diesel. After all, corruption in high places is not an unknown phenomenon in India. But, then, corruption is no longer an issue.

Quoting Gandhi out of context

The Tribune has successfully conducted a very healthy national debate on “building a tolerant society”. The readers got a rare opportunity of benefiting from the ideas of eminent writers. But it is painful to note that the debate was concluded with Mr M.S. N. Menon’s article in which he quoted Mahatma Gandhi on religion and conversion out of context.

Gandhi had said, “Hinduism with its message of Ahimsa is to me the most glorious religion in the world”, and he considered it “the most tolerant of all religions”. But what the so-called saviours of the Hindu religion and culture have done in Orissa is not only shocking but also inhuman and blasphemous.

Our politicians, who have failed to solve the basic problems of food, shelter and clothing of a vast majority of the people, make religion their refuge to express their shallow sympathy with the masses. For their vote-bank politics, they have been promoting communalism for a long time. Growing criminalisation of politics, rampant corruption, a gradual breakdown of institutions and people’s loss of faith in the sincerity and efficacy of the administration are more important than deciding the cultural norms for the people.

VED GULIANI
Hisar

All the parties that have formed their government since Independence have claimed to have worked for the emancipation of the poor, but, in fact, they only exploited the poor.

Let us take kerosene, used by the poor. Why is it rationed? Why is it not available as freely as petrol and diesel? Upto 1962 it was freely available. It may be argued that it is used for adulteration because it is subsidised.

In fact, very few people get it at ration shops. Much of it is diverted to the black market. In the open market it is always available at Rs 10 per litre. If it is not available at ration shops, how is it that in the open market it is always available?

If the government claims to be working for the poor, then it must make kerosene freely available like petrol and diesel. Kerosene is a necessity of life — used for cooking. Firewood is expensive, and coal is not available.

I wish to draw the attention of the authorities towards a certain flaw in the medical reimbursement rules brought to my notice by some affected persons. In the case of heart-related diseases this flaw needs to be removed immediately.

The medical reimbursement rules entitle an employee to get full relief from the government against the expenditure incurred by him for open-heart surgery at certain specialised hospitals or institutions. However, the rules are silent about the tests or treatment to be undertaken prior to open heart surgery so as to avoid it.

Suspected heart patients are advised by doctors to undergo angiography, a thelium test, or balooning to stop further damage to the heart and to avoid open-heart or bypass surgery.

These tests and treatment are quite costly but not as costly as is the main surgery. Ironically, the employees are told that the few thousand rupees spent by them on these tests will not be paid to them, but if they undergo bypass surgery they will get back the full amount spent, to the tune of a couple of lakhs of rupees. There seems to be certain omission in the rules which needs to be clarified immediately through an amendment.

Another factor to be looked into is the stoppage of all kinds of reimbursement since the time the payment of a fixed medical allowance has been effected. There are patients who have to undergo kidney transplantation or heart bypass surgery. The post-operation monthly treatment expenditure of these patients falls in the range of Rs 2000/- to Rs 10000/- per month. Though such patients are very few, they need attention and compensation for follow-up treatment. Such treatments of recurring nature shouldn’t be covered under the fixed medical allowance rule.

	M A I L B A G	Saturday, March 6, 1999
weather n spotlight today's calendar