By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 1 Feb: Congress leaders from Uttarakhand have criticised the Union Budget, presented today in the Lok Sabha by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as directionless and inflationary.
PCC Chief Karan Mahra termed the general budget of the Modi government as directionless, regressive, hindering development and increasing inflation and unemployment against the interests of the common person.
Mahra was reacting to the Union Budget presented today by the Modi Government. The PCC Chief claimed that the budget indicated the central government’s stubbornness regarding the issues at hand. He added that the budget is totally lacking any direction, is regressive and anti-development. It would increase inflation and worsen unemployment in the country.
Mahra claimed that economic growth of the country would be badly hurt by the budget. He said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had indulged in mere jugglery of figures and words in her budget presentation. Some hollow announcements were made but the reality is that the budget would increase the burden of inflation and lead to further unemployment. He said that the growth rate is far away from the double digits promised by the Modi Government. The budget also did not have anything to increase the income of the farmers, though Modi Government had been promising doubling of the farmers’ income.
Regarding the budget, veteran Congress leader and former CM Harish Rawat said that the Prime Minister seemed to have no words for the youth. There was nothing in the budget for them. Nothing had been provided in the budget towards solving the problem of unemployment and there was no roadmap for the youth of the country. The provisions in the social and education sectors also are meagre. In fact, the government had chosen to ignore the social sector and social welfare in the current budget. The budget was one of few provisions and few words which would not resolve any problem facing the country. The people would be hugely disappointed with the budget.
Leader of the Opposition Yashpal Arya said it was unfortunate to reduce the outlay in the education budget from 2.64 percent to 2.5 percent and reduce the outlay in the health sector from 2.2 percent to 1.98 percent. This would harm the country and directly affect the population, Arya claimed. He added that there is nothing in the budget on dealing with rising unemployment, increasing the plight of farmers, skyrocketing inflation and crisis on the existence of small and medium industries. Budget allocations for agriculture, public health, education, MNREGA, food security and social concerns, public welfare had been reduced as compared to last year. This was a warning bell for farmers-labourers, poor, the backward, dalits and tribals. The middle class had got nothing but bitter pills coated in honey. Under the new Income tax regime, there is no provision for exemptions. More concessions have been given to industrialists during the Amrit period, but the unorganised sector continues to be neglected. Inflation, unemployment, poverty are sure to increase from Budget 2023, he claimed.
