By IANS
New Delhi : The Communist Party of India (CPI) Thursday asked the government to take urgent corrective measures to stabilise stock market operations and prevent “accumulation of huge wealth” by few at the cost of the common people.
“The CPI demands the government cry halt to the senseless Sensex (Sensitive Index) boom and take urgent corrective measures to stabilise the stock market operations and prevent accumulation of huge wealth by a handful at the cost of pauperisation of the common people’s hard-earned savings,” the party said in a statement issued after a two-day national council meeting.
Amid wild fluctuations, the stock markets in India have scaled new highs in recent weeks.
Alleging that the Indian stock market is “increasingly becoming a casino” the party took a jibe at the finance ministry’s immediate interventions whenever the indices fell.
“When thousands of farmers commit suicide due to burden of debts, the government does not bother. But when the Sensex falls, there is panic and the finance minister (P. Chidambaram) rushes to the scene to announce corrective action.”
Pointing out that the market had crashed last month when the government decided to restrict participatory notes, the CPI said: “In the last one year alone, Rs.75,000 crores (Rs.750 billion) have come to the Indian market in the name of PNs. The source of these foreign investments is not disclosed but everyone can understand these are black money being routed to India.
“The boom has nothing to do with higher production of real economic development,” it said.
Referring to media reports that Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani had overtaken Bill Gates as the richest man in the world, the party said: “It is reported that on account of the boom in the stock market Mukesh Ambani is able to earn Rs.4 million as additional income per minute. But 80 crores (800 million) of Indian population have less than a $2 a day as daily income which mean that they live with an income of 6 paise per minute.”
It said only 0.5 percent of Indians were involved in the stock market operations.