New Delhi, February 29

The Union Budget met with mixed reactions on Monday, as Congress and the Left criticised the Budget for having offered nothing to alleviate the agricultural crisis in the country, although the Central Government’s allies appreciated it.

Principal Opposition Congress called the “Budget very general” did not address the threat posed to agriculture.

"This is a budget of future clarifications. There is no immediate stimulus to create disposable income in the hands of people or to generate employment. Biggest challenge that we face today is in employment and agriculture sectors. There is not anything on that," Congress leader Kamal Nath said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said: "The government has painted a very broad and general picture and it has to be seen how everything works out in practice," he said.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said the Budget “lacked imagination”.

"In totality it is going to shrink the economy. Markets have given the budget a thumbs down," Tewari said.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha, said the budget offered nothing for the common man.

"The long-pending demand of waiving farmers loan has also not been considered," he said.

"They criticised MNREGA and Aadhaar. The UPA government gave Rs 40,000 crore to MNREGA. This (the budget allocation) is not a big thing. If you compare the wages that have increased, then it is important. It is not important how much total allocation has increased.

"If it was Rs 100 a day, we gave Rs 40,000 crore. Today, the wages have become Rs 150. This is natural that the man-days will be reduced. You are seeing only the money part, but not the physical part," he said.

“There is also nothing for inclusive growth of the poor in the budget as also for the youth and women,” Kharge said.

He also criticised the budget for having exempted the rich from paying taxes.

"Forget bringing back black money. Process has been initiated for those who have black money," he said.



‘Grossly inadequate’

CPI (M)’s peasants' wing said the Budget had nothing “concrete” for farmers.

"It is grossly inadequate allocation for farmers. ...There is no concrete proposal as to how farmers' income will be doubled as they (the government) have not given any assurance to reduce input costs and ensure minimum support price in line with the MS Swaminathan Commission report. If this is not there, how the income will be doubled? It cannot be doubled by only issuing statements," All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) general secretary Hannan Mollah said.

Mollah also questioned the decision to hike agri-credit target to Rs 9 lakh crore.

"Small, marginal farmers and agricultural labourers form 75 per cent of the farming community. They don't get loans. Actually, the loans go to agri-businesses. I do not think it will lead to a very remarkable development in the agrarian sector," he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced an allocation of nearly Rs 36,000 crore for the farm sector while raising the agri-credit target to Rs 9 lakh crore for the next fiscal to double farmers' income by 2022.

He also allocated Rs 15,000 crore for interest subvention on the farm credit, Rs 5,500 crore for the new crop insurance scheme and Rs 500 crore to boost pulses output.

Jaitley also said a unified agricultural market will be launched on April 14 and soil health cards will be provided to all 14 crore farmers by March 2017.

Allies heap praises



Bharatiya Janata Party’s allies Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal praised the Budget.

Shiv Sena Parliamentarian Arvind Sawant said it was a Budget for “Budget for the common man and the downtrodden".

"We welcome this Budget. The government has taken care of farmers and industries at the same time. This is a pro-common man, pro-downtrodden and a Budget that has been made especially for the young generation of the country," Sawant said.

‘FM showed courage’

The BJD called the Union Budget a "big step" from a macro-economic perspective for its large allocation to infrastructure, especially in rural areas, and steps to cut red tape to ensure ease of doing business.

Party leader and Parliamentarian Baijayant Panda also lauded the Union Finance Minister for not resorting to a "populist" budget despite polls being around the corner in many states.

"This is not a populist budget and that's not easy because the global scenario has been difficult. Fiscal deficit is important because that is the single most important factor due to which the country rating is determined. When Moody and other research and rating companies rate the country, they look at the fiscal deficit. And that impacts inflation, rupee exchange rate, so that I think takes a lot of courage." "From macro-economic point of view, this is a big step.

“All the massive allotments made for rural infrastructure, irrigation and farm sector as well as national infrastructure, cutting of red tape are growth oriented. I think it's a good sign," Panda said, who was seen walking up to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and congratulating him immediately after the Budget.

Panda said the highest ever allocation has been made under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for rural roads and highest under MNREGA Rs 38,500 crore.

He also referred to Rs 2.87 lakh crore to be given as grants-in-aid to village panchyats and municipalities to boost rural economy.

"This is a big step. We have been talking about this for 30 years now," he said. — PTI