Reacting to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget for 2018-19, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the Modi government, even after four years in office, was still promising fancy schemes and fair prices to farmers.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a meeting of Opposition parties that issues such as unemployment, farm distress and education were so serious, they merited a separate discussion in Parliament.
Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram described the budget as “defeatist” and a “letdown” for failing to undertake bold reforms. “4 years gone; still promising FARMERS a fair price. 4 years gone; FANCY SCHEMES, with NO matching budgets. 4 years gone; no JOBS for our YOUTH. Thankfully, only 1 more year to go.# Budget2018,” was Mr. Gandhi’s reaction on Twitter.
‘Defeatist Budget’
At a press conference called by the Congress, Mr. Chidambaram said the government had “run out of ideas” to address key challenges like creating jobs, reviving agriculture and exports, improving investments, and managing fiscal consolidation. “It is a defeatist Budget. I think they have thrown in the towel. It is a Budget of a government which has conceded that it has failed to address key issues in the economy,” he said. He described the new health insurance scheme providing a cover of ₹5 lakh a year for 10 crore poor families as a ‘big jumla (gimmick)’ as the government had not made enough provisions for the scheme. “Can anyone show where will the money come from,” he asked.
Congress communication head Randeep Surjewala said if five crore families claimed even half the amount, the government would need ₹12 lakh crore or 60% of India’s overall budget for just one scheme. He contested the government’s claim of the Budget being pro-farmer, and said the Economic Survey admitted that the status of the farmer has not changed.
