Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 5: Congress termed the Union Budget as disappointing and full of hollow promises and fake claims while several other political, social and trade bodies have given mixed reaction over the budget which was presented in the Union Parliament today by the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman.
Reacting to the budget speech of Union Finance Minister, PCC has said that this is first such budget which does not present figures of budgetary allocation like in the past. Budget is an exercise of arithmetic figures but that has not been presented in the main budget, PCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said.
He said budget indicates towards further inflation and price hike, as the petrol, diesel, construction material, books, newspapers and even gold and silver used for ornaments has gone up. He said there is no initiative towards the employment problem which is serious being unemployment rate saw 45% high in Modi regime. Agriculture, Textile and leather etc are main source of jobs.
The promise of doubling the income of farmers has proved to be hollow and except allocation for the already financial support scheme, no major thrust on agriculture and any increase in MGNREGA wages was seen. Whereas 300% in UPA for wages under MGNREGA shows the initiatives of UPA Govt towards farm labour and agriculture sector.
He said that budget also indicates towards privatization especially in Railway sector as PPP mode is the main theme of Modi Govt to please the private sector. He further said that there is no relief to poor, low income and middle income group population of the country in the budget.
Sharma said that claims of 5.6 lakh villages getting open defecation free does not hold true, as neither there proper source or supply of water nor those who constructed out MGNERGA schemes have got the payment so far.
He described the budget as disappointing for the common man, especially youth, farmers and women and does not match the claims and dreams of the Government.
NPP chief patron Prof Bhim Singh in his sharp reaction on 2019-20 Union Budget described it as favouring capitalist class at the cost of middle and lower middle classes in the country. He warned the nation about the coming Railway Budget.
State unit president of NCP and former minister Thakur Randhir Singh congratulated Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting land mark budget which will be a great help to the farmers, women and income tax payers. Singh, a veteran politician has expressed that he has not seen such a budget for the last 50 years, as each and every sector has been covered under this budget. He termed it as pro-development budget.
State unit of Shiv Sena (BST), general secretary Manish Sahni condemned the hike in Excise Duty and cess on petrol and diesel in the Union Budget. He said though many concessions have been given to the general masses in this budget including Income tax rebate up to the income of Rs 5 lakhs but hike on petrol diesel is highly objectionable. It will have impact on transport , freight charges and other items.
Bari Brahmana Industries Association, president Lalit Mahajan has termed the Union Budget as disappointing and said that nothing has been provided to the Industrial sector and Public Sector Undertakings in the J&K State. Mahajan said they were expecting some concessions for the trade and industry in the State but nothing has been heard during FM’s budget speech. He said 2 % rebate to the MSME sector is good move but there is clarity with regard to small scale industry. Maximum benefit has been accorded to the large/ heavy industries.
Jammu West Assembly Movement, leader Sunil Dimple termed the budget as directionless and disappointing for the general masses. He said it is anti-youth, anti-farmer and anti-traders budget as no special concessions have been given to this class. He condemned the hike in excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel and 2 % duty on gold.
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