Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 1: The Interim Budget-2024 presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has evoked mixed reaction in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), president for Jammu & Kashmir, Ravinder Raina while congratulating the people for getting a highly appreciable interim budget, said that it will empower everyone as its main focus has been youth, poor, women, and farmers, and these sections constitute a large percentage of the Indian population.
Raina said Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has focused on empowering everyone while framing the Budget. It is also a budget for building the future of the country to fulfill the mission of making India a developed nation by 2047. Raina said that the budget is also a reflection of the young aspirations of young India. New employment opportunities will be created under this budget. The provisions of the Budget will also add more facilities of travel by train across the country.
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BJP Spokesperson, R S Pathania termed today’s interim budget presented by the Finance Minster as historic, unprecedented and focused on a long term vision for building India. Overall, He praised the budget and vision of the Modi Sarkar for a prosperous India and emphasized on the need to implement policies effectively to reach out to the people at large. Pathania was speaking to a gathering at Dema in Udhampur and said announcements of 40,000 normal railway bogies to be converted to Vande Bharat, vaccination for girls in the age group of 9-14 years to prevent cervical cancer, recognition of role of MSMEs, one lakh crore corpus with 50 year interest free (long-term financing or refinancing) to encourage the private sector to scale up R&D, doubling of exports to one lakh crore rupees, have struck a direct chord with common people of India.
Spokesperson BJP JKUT and former JCCI president, Y V Sharma complimented the FM for presenting forward looking interim Budget for the financial year 2024-25. Clarifying that it is not a complete Budget but a vote on account till June 2024, Sharma stressed that this interim Budget very clearly mentions the futuristic approach of the BJP for making Viksit Bharat upto 2047. He congratulated the FM for putting no new tax burden on the people and continuing all the concessions and incentives announced in the previous Budget. He further said that the building of new houses for the poor will be continued in the coming year as indicated in the Budget. Three major economic railway corridor programmes like energy, mineral and cement corridors; port connectivity corridors, high traffic density corridors are being launched in the country which will give big relief.
Purnima Sharma, BJP spokesperson and former Dy Mayor also lauded the interim Budget and said it is going to accelerate the development in the country and enable it to become 5 trillion dollar economy in next three years. She termed it as Ram Rajya Budget of new India.
Senior BJP leader and former Minister Bali Bhagat also lauded the Interim Budget presented by the Union Finance Minister today. He described it as visionary and growth oriented budget of the Modi Government.
J& K Pradesh Congress has said that the Union Budget has brought no relief to the hard pressed common man, salaried class and record number of unemployed youth.
Reacting to the interim budget today, JKPCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani termed the budget as disappointing for the common man and said it was more a list of achievements with focus on elections than the hardships faced by the common man, unemployed youth, farmers and working class in the country. He said that no relief has been given to the middle class tax payers, who are hard pressed due to high inflation, the poor is suffering due to unprecedented price hike but there is no provisions to control prices by reducing taxes on essential items.
As per a credible news agency survey, 65 percent of people have claimed that their income has either decreased or remained the same but their expenditure has gone up, so clearly people are hard pressed due to price escalation. 15.4 cr people have registered for job cards under MG NREGA, which is alarming and reflect the condition of joblessness in the country.
JKPCC general secretary T S Tony criticized the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister, calling it nothing more than an “election speech” devoid of concrete plans to address critical issues like inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Tony said that this budget is a stark disappointment. The budget presented today was more like a popular speech rather than a strategic plan to tackle the pressing economic challenges facing our nation.
Communist Party of India (Marxist), termed Interim Budget 2024-25 as Modi `Development Model’ – enriching the rich by squeezing the poor. A CPI (M) spokesman said that despite the tall claims made by the Finance Minister about the state of India’s economy, the interim Union Budget for 2024-25 reveals the grim economic situation confronting India’s working people and the vicious face of the Modi government’s conception of ‘development’ which is designed to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. Though the revenue receipts in 2023-24 exceeded the budget estimates and grew by 13.3 per cent compared to the previous year, Central Government expenditures have been squeezed below budget estimates in order to reduce the fiscal deficit. These expenditures have grown by only 7 per cent, less than even the nominal growth of GDP, which is officially expected to be 8.9 per cent.
Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Jammu president Arun Gupta while reacting to the interim budget said that there is nothing new for the business community as no relief has been announced for them in the budget.
He also said that we have demanded establishment of some public sector undertaking unit in Jammu but nothing has been announced in the budget. He also hoped that while announcing the budget for the UT of J&K the government will announce establishment of a big tourism destination in Jammu to increase the footfall of tourists in Jammu as the Rail/Road connectivity upto Kashmir Valley will definitely harm the economic growth especially of Jammu City.
While hailing the Union Budget announced today Arun Gupta said that the Central Government has given focus to all major sectors including Defence, Health Sector, Agriculture and food processing , Women, Youth and lower middle class people.
He welcomed the continuity of tax benefits to the start-ups and tax exemption of some IFSC units upto 31-03-2025 and retention of same tax rates. Gupta lauded the announcement of additional two crore houses in next five years and the scheme to promote housing for middle class to buy and build their own houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. He said implementation of three Railway Corridor programs under PM GATI Shakti to improve logistic efficiency and reduce cost, expansion of existing Airports and development of new airports under UDAN Scheme and promotion of Urban transformation via Metro Rail and NAMO Bharat is also a welcome step.
Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) today lauded the Union Interim budget and described it as Industrial friendly. BBIA president Lalit Mahajan said that Interim Budget 2024-25 with the allocation of Rs 37277.74 crores for Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in Parliament today is Industrial friendly and beneficial for all sections of society.
While going through the interim Budget proposal, Mahajan welcomed the proposals for the speedy development of all the sector including MSME Sector as well as for the Corporate Sector of the Country with important announcements like — 7% GDP growth, no change in the present direct / indirect taxes, one crores house holds will be enabled to obtain 300 units of free electricity per month under Rooftop Solarization, 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans disbursed to women entrepreneurs, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Grameen) close to achieving target of 3 crore houses, additional 2 crore targeted for next 5 years housing for Middle Class scheme to be launched to promote middle class to buy/built their own houses.
Chairman and Vice Chairman of CII J&K Council applauded Interim Union Budget 2024. Archit Puri, Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) J&K Council, and Junaid Altaf, Vice Chairman, expressed their hearty welcome to the Interim Union Budget 2024, emphasizing the budget’s significant focus on development in key sectors crucial for the growth and prosperity of Jammu & Kashmir.
The Interim Union Budget 2024 lays down the long-term vision for India, focusing on infrastructure, youth, agriculture, women, amongst others. Jammu and Kashmir has been allocated Rs 37,277.74 crore in the interim Union Budget for 2024- 25 of which, Rs 35,619.30 crore alone have been kept for bridging resource gap in the Union Territory, he said
Junaid Altaf expressed confidence that the budget’s inclusive and forward-looking approach will pave the way for the holistic development of Jammu & Kashmir. He highlighted that the budget’s attention to agriculture, tourism, and research & innovation.
PHDCCI Chair, Rahul Sahai while reacting to the Interim Budget said that Budget is inclusive development oriented growth oriented and lays a development path towards the Viksit Bharat. The move on fiscal consolidation, the fiscal deficit to be 5.1% is a bold move which ensures that there will be strict inflation management.
Sahai said Capex growth by over 11% to 11,00,000 crores will again have a spin off effect on construction activity, employment and rural demand going up because of incomes with the rural poor specifically on technology Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan Jai Anusandhan is the best. Sahai said on manufacturing while there was nothing specific but 3 corridors that have been announced will have a great impact on reducing the logistics cost and therefore enhance the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Manish Sahni termed the interim budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as disappointing specially for the people of J&K.
According to the press release issued from the party state central office, state chief Manish Sahni said that there is nothing for the people of Jammu and Kashmir in this budget. There is no announcement of any special package for Jammu and Kashmir, there is no road map to curb unemployment and inflation.
Housewives, including the general public, who were hoping for a reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel, have been disappointed due to no announcement of relief in domestic gas and food items.
Sahni said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been deeply disappointed by this budget.
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