‘It has given us more than what we expected during the time of COVID-19’
Member of Legislative Assembly from Jewargi and the Chief Whip of the Congress Ajay Singh has criticised the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Monday as one that failed to address crucial issues.
“The budget has no vision. It failed to address the crucial economic issues of the country. There is no announcement for the revival of crisis-ridden agriculture and industrial sector. We had hoped that the government would announce free COVID-19 vaccination for all the 130 crore people of India. But, our hopes are shattered. In a nutshell, it is an anti-people budget,” he said.
Mr. Singh also expressed disappointment over what he said the negligence towards Kalyana Karnataka region in the budget.
“We had expected that the Union government would make some budgetary allocations for Kalyana Karnataka region which is accorded with Special Status under Article 371(J) of the Constitution. We also expected that the government would announce AIIMS and National Investment and Manufacturing Zone for Kalaburagi. But no such announcements are made in the budget,” he said.
Sharanabasappa Mamshetty, a farmer leader associated with Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, criticised the budget as anti-farmer.
“The farm sector is in deep crisis and the distressed farmers are increasingly quitting agriculture. We had expected that the Union government would make some special announcements in the budget to revive the agriculture economy. But, we found no such subsidies for seeds and fertilizers and waiver of farm loans. It has also not considered the floods as a national calamity,” he said.
BJP leaders, however, hailed the budget as development-oriented and pro-people.
Lok Sabha member from Koppal Sanganna Karadi said that the “budget gave us more than what we had expected during the time of COVID-19 crisis.”
“It is a comprehensive budget that gave importance to key sectors such as agriculture, industry, health, education, railway, road transport and rural infrastructure. The measures announced the budget would hasten progress in the days to come,” he said, focusing on the announcement for the development the Belagavi-Raichur National Highway that would cover Hungund and Lingsugur, apart from Belagavi and Raichur.
Member of Legislative Council Shashil G. Namoshi said that the budget did not mount any burden on the shoulders of the common people.
“Not making any hike in income tax rates or any alterations in the slabs is a big relief for the salaried class. The Jal Jeevan Mission [Urban], allocation of ₹ 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccine and ₹ 2 lakh crore for each State for development works, development of 11,000 km of national highways and one nation-one ration card are among the promising initiatives announced in the budget,” he said.
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