India News | Opposition Attacks Government for Not Meeting Expectations of Commoners in Budget

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) Opposition parties on Friday criticised the government for not meeting the aspirations and expectations of the people in the general budget this year, with some even calling it so lacklustre as to not aim at India's future development.

Participating in the general discussion on budget, DMK member M Mohamed Abdulla said that the people expected an "amazing government" from NDA when it came to power in 2014, but instead, they got an "Amazon government."

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The Union government has given a lacklustre budget which does not aim at the growth or welfare of the people of this country, he said, as he highlighted the high rate of unemployment and inflation in the country.

"This budget shows that this government does not have any road map to build India's future, instead this government want to push the fortune of gift city Ahmedabad at the cost of other financial and commercial centres of the country," Abdulla said, and called into question scant relief for poor people and ordinary taxpayers in the budget.

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"Government sells public sector firms to their corporate masters and when corporate companies struggle, very recently like your friend Adani's companies were struggling, your government takes common man's money from government company like LIC or SBI to infuse funds into those and who uses the money to manipulate the stock market," the leader said referring to a recent wipe out of Adani Group shares in the wake of the Hindenburg report.

AITC member Shantanu Sen said when the Prime Minister was speaking on Thursday "not a single MP from AITC, or Congress, AAP or anyone was shown exercising their basic democratic right" nor was it covered by the Rajya Sabha TV.

He claimed that the Budget was opportunistic, rhetorical, and had "turned a blind eye to the plight of the common man" with its silence on inflation, unemployment, and other key issues.

He alleged that although the Union Finance Minister spoke of inclusive development, there was a "38 per cent budget cut for minority schemes."

"Budget for madrasas and minorities education has been slashed to Rs 10 crore...," he said, adding, there has been no significant increase in budget allocation for higher education and school education, he stated.

The unemployment rate in December 2022 was 8.3 per cent – the highest in the last 16 months – with four crore youths currently jobless, Sen said.

He alos said that the outlay for healthcare seems to have increased but, adjusted to inflation, there is actually a decrease.

Another AITC member, Jawhar Sircar, said, "We feel wealth tax is regressive. We are pleading for securitisation tax for a certain class and not for ordinary."

He also pointed towards the low tax-to-GDP ratio, urging it to be increased as government needs more funds for welfare and development works.

Sircar also drew the house's attention towards a loss of Rs 12 lakh crore in NPAs or bad loans.

BJP member Arun Singh said that the Budget 2023-24 had something for every sector, every part of the country, and every village, from north to south.

"The entire country is praising and appreciating the PM," he said.

Despite it being the last budget before the general election in 2024, no one has called it an election budget, he said.

"Everyone has said that the Budget is for the country, and society and for everyone," he said.

Singh said that the centre's policies have led to massive FDI inflows into the country.

The manufacturing sector has been growing at a phenomenal pace, and Morgan Stanley has projected that by 2027 India will become the third-largest economy in the world, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)