General budget an economic blunder: Opposition slams govt in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Opposition parties on Tuesday trained its guns on the government in Rajya Sabha over the general budget, calling it an “economic blunder” and terming some of its announcements as election “jumla”. Members from Congress, Samajwadi Party and JD(U) also targetted the government on the farmers front, wondering whether the government has any agricultural road map. [caption id=“attachment_2676670” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Naresh Agrawal (Samajwadi Party) spoke about difficulty in loans for the poor and the farmer and asked the government to clearly define the parameters of poverty. “No loan is given without giving commission. Has any action been taken against any Chairman, Regional Managers and Managers of banks.” Talking about corruption in MGNREGA, he said the government should rather withdraw it as instead of giving employment, it was encouraging corruption which has made the election of village heads an expensive affair. Digressing from the issue, Aggrawal also referred to the remarks of MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi that he would not say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. “The statements of some political leaders come that they can’t say Vande Mataram or Bharat Maata Ki Jai. Yesterday itself such a statement came.” He also advised the government to accept the recommendations of a Parliamentary panel to increase the salary of MPs. While arguing that the government should take effective steps for population control, Aggrawal said the government should either do it through education “or should adopt the style of Sanjay Gandhi.” Aggrawal also took a jibe at the ministers saying the Prime Minister has not given the rights and directly talks to their Secretaries. Pawan Kumar Verma (JDU) posed ten questions before the government on the Budget it was “mystifying,”. While the budget claims that economy will accelerate to 7.6 per cent and India is hailed as a bright spot, exports are “sinking” for last 15 months in a row and the manufacturing sector is in a “very bleak” position. He also wondered that at a time when banks are facing bankruptcy and farmers are under debt, the government is talking of providing further loans to agriculturists through the banks. He also dubbed as “double betrayal” the government’s promise on minimum support price. The JD-U member wondered whether the promise to double the income of farmers by 2022 is just “another election jumla (phrase)”. PTI