The Bharatiya Janata Party termed the Union government’s interim budget as pragmative while the opposition parties criticised it as being a populist one bereft of any concrete measures to improve the economy.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, said the proposal to directly credit ₹6,000 a year to farmers’ bank accounts is a historic move and the government has fulfilled the demand of fishermen by establishing a separate Department for Fisheries.
He further said rebate on interest for natural calamity-affected farmers (2%) and farmers who have repaid loans (3%), Kamadhenu scheme to improve dairy sector, PM pension scheme for 10 crore labourers, ₹3,000 pension per month for labourers in the unorganised sector etc., are some of the welcome measures, he said.
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D. Vedavyasa Kamath, MLA, termed the budget as having social well-being as the sole objective.
In a statement here, Mr. Kamath said the budget appears to have been prepared keeping in mind the middle class, the farmers and the workers in unorganised sector.
However, district in-charge Minister U.T. Khader termed the budget neither populist nor pro-people and said Karnataka did not benefit in anyway from it.
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In a statement here, Mr. Khader said the budget did not focus on the youth and students. It is a budget full of hollow promises aimed only at the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Minister said.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) said even the last budget of the NDA government did not bring ‘Ache Din’.
DYFI district President B.K. Imtiyaz said in a statement that the budget did not address the turmoil in construction and production sectors caused by the defective economic policies of Modi government.
‘Lot of concessions’
In Udupi, Srikrishna Rao Kodancha, President of Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it was “a common man’s budget”. The Finance Minister had given a lot of concessions in income tax for the salaried middle class, he said.
Satyanarayana Udupa Japti, general secretary of the district unit of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, said that the budget was more beneficial to the poor and the middle-income farmers than big farmers.
The 2% interest subvention for farmers affected by natural calamities and 3% interest subvention for timely payment was a positive step. The Pradhan Mantri Shramyogi Maandhan Scheme was another positive step, he said.
Yogish Shetty, president of the district unit of JD(S), said that the budget was nothing but a BJP manifesto for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Union government had not waived the loans of the farmers.
“If the government had any concern for farmers, poor and the middle class, it should have presented this budget four-and-a-half years ago,” he said.