Budget anti-people, reflects UPA's policy paralysis, says Jaya

Chennai: Dubbing the Union Budget as ‘anti-people,’ Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said it reflected the ‘continued policy paralysis gripping’ Manmohan Singh led UPA Government. “This Budget is an exercise in futility, an ill-wind that blows nobody any good, and to top it all, anti-people… it demonstrates the continued policy paralysis gripping the Union Government,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_247324” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The AIADMK supremo said the Budget exercise turned out to be ‘Business-as-usual’ with some tinkering here and there. AFP”]  [/caption] In a four-page detailed reaction to the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Jayalalithaa said it did not provide any tangible solutions to the problems crippling the Indian Economy" which is at a cross-roads facing insurmountable problems and required ‘some bold measures.’ The AIADMK supremo said the Budget exercise turned out to be ‘Business-as-usual’ with some tinkering here and there. It did not offer any solution to check slowing economic growth, she said adding the projected growth rate of 7.6 percent would be difficult to achieve as no real stimulus for growth and sops to private investment had been provided. “While there has been a lot of tall talk of bringing back the black money stashed in foreign countries for more than three years now, nothing tangible has been done on that count,” she said. On the Budget pledging full subsidy support for the proposed Food Security Bill, the AIADMK leader said her government had already opposed the legislation ’tooth and nail’ as it will distort the Universal PDS of Tamil Nadu. Direct transfer of subsidy on fertilisers to retailers would only cause great harm to the farmers, she added. Holding that there was no announcement to enable states directly raise resources to implement infrastructure projects, she said the Centre could have created an instrument for raising debt funds to provide support to such projects similar to the infrastructure debt fund to finance Central projects. “In short, the Budget presented today in Parliament is a poor reflection of the commitment of the Central Government to take the economy forward on a growth trajectory.