Thursday, February 24 2005 17:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Observing that the thrust of economic reforms should shift from capitalist profit to people's welfare, Left parties today (Feb 24, 2005) sought an increase of Rs 50,000 crore in the central plan outlay to step up public investment in agriculture, employment generation and education and health sectors.

Emerging out of a two-hour-long meeting of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance)-Left Coordination Committee in New Delhi, CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said, "The thrust of reforms must shift towards people's welfare rather than capitalist profit and this shift, we hope, will be reflected in the Budget."

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Government had "greatly benefited" from the discussion with leaders of Left parties on a 12-point note they had submitted on the budget few weeks ago.

Both, however, refused to divulge details of the discussions between the Government leaders and the Left quoting "budgetary secrecy."

Besides the two, the meeting was attended by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, CPM General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI (Communist Party of India) leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP).

Asked whether the issues of FDI in banking and real estate sectors or patents came up for discussion, Yechury said these were not discussed, as these did not form part of the budgetary exercise.

"These issues are being discussed at different levels and we will continue to discuss them."