Parliament tonight completed the first stage of the budgetary exercise as Rajya Sabha returned the relevant bills which Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha termed as the budget for upliftment of India.
Winding up the debate on the Budget in the Upper House, Sinha countered opposition charge about inflation, saying the government has done a "good job" in managing inflation and the prices of most of the commodities with the exception of pulses has either come down or has remain stable.
The Appropriation Bill and Vote on Account Bills were passed on the last day of first part of the Budget session after a discussion during which the opposition said the Budget lacks "direction and purpose".
Sinha insisted that the government policies were dedicated to the poor and uplifting the last man in the row.
"Ye desh ki udaan ka Budget hai (this Budget is for the upliftment of the country)," he said, adding the proposals have focused on poor and he farm sector.
The Minister further said that the decision to keep the fiscal deficit under check at 3.5 per cent of the GDP for 2016-17 was highly appreciated by the Economist magazine and has also evoked good response from the bond market.
Brushing aside the opposition criticism that the government has curtailed allocations for sociakl sector schemes, Sinha said "we have earmarked substantial funds for healthcare and irrigation and plans for SC and ST.
Earlier, the opposition contended that the budget lacks
"direction and purpose" and that it caters to corporate rather than the poor and farmers.
Digvijaya Singh (Cong) dared the government to come out with any names of Congress members for possessing blackmoney and said the opposition party does not fear from such threats.
"We do not have any fears. No one fears from such threats of naming us for black money. You give the names of those having black money and stop threatening us," he said
The Congress leader also said the hallmark of this government has been to rebrand the schemes brought by UPA and said 22 such schemes have been rebranded.
"No one is bigger than them in the art of lying," he said.
Singh asked the government to concentrate on health, education, agriculture and livelihood instead and things will move forward of their own.
Pawan Verma of the JD (U) said that there should be some sanctity attached to the promises made in the Budget.
"The poor are not satisfied and the youth, farmers and middle class are unhappy with it. In this budget, despite the Finance Minister's best efforts, no section of the society has felt it works for them," he added.
Referring to the government's assurances given for bringing black money, he said not much has happened in that direction.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said the budget talks of "Cooperative Federalism", but in reality it is "Inoperative Federalism".
He added the Centre has tried to "claw" back the share of the states in taxes by increasing cesses and surcharges.
Roy said the budget talks of increasing income of the farmers but it has not explained in detail how this can be achieved.
The budget is not a "poor man's" budget, but that of "crony capitalists", he added.
T Rathinavel (AIADMK) said the budget has come out with many welfare schemes, but has belied the hopes of the Tamil people.
He added that Tamil Nadu requires Rs 25,000 crore for rehabilitation work post the disastrous floods in the state.
Satish Chandra Misra (BSP) said this government (NDA) said "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas", but in reality it looks like "Corporate Ka Saath Unka Vikas".
He attacked the budget for not allocating more funds for upgradation of schools.
Misra said the government's schme for allocation of Rs 500 crore for scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and women entrepreneurs lacks substance.
He added that by announcing such schemes the government cannot claim to have made contributions to Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar's legacy.
Misra said the Budget is catering to the corporate and has failed to address issues such as women empowerment, ramping infrastructure in lower courts, healthcare etc.
D Raja of CPI also sought to know why concessions were given to corporates and big businesses. He termed disparity as the main problem being faced by the country. He also spoke of wilfull default on loans by businesses and asked why it can't be made a criminal offence.
Tapan Sen of CPI(M) said in the Budget, the government
had sacrificed indirect taxes to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore on the one hand and on the other hand, it was targeting to generate Rs 75,000 crore as additional revenue through indirect taxes.
"At a time when there is an overall gloomy situation of the economy, the situation demands that the burden of indirect taxes on the people need to be reduced," he said.
Jairam Ramesh said the sum and substance of the country is that the investor sentiment is subdued and is not buoyant to create growth.
"Whether the election results of Uttar Pradesh will provide the tonic for investor sentiment, whether the passage of the GST Bill or other Bills will provide the tonic for the investor sentiment, time alone will tell, but, I think, the Finance Minister owes it to him to acknowledge that today the crisis in the Indian economy is one of investor sentiment.
"It is one of investor confidence and there is a need to restore that sentiment and restore that confidence if growth has to come back to the 7.5 to 8.0 trajectory, that the UPA government left when it demitted office," the Congress leader said.
He also asked the Finance Minister how much of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore has actually come back to banks as there is speculation that more than Rs 15.44 lakh crore has actually come to the banks.
"I think the Finance Minister owes it to the country to tell us how much of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore has actually come back into the banking system," he asked.
He also claimed that more black money was unearthed during the last two years of UPA than in NDA and cited a written answer in this regard, where it was stated that prior to 2014 as much as Rs 1,31,000 crore was unearthed against Rs 1,25,000 during the Narendra Modi government.
Ramesh also took on the government over setting up of the SIT to tackle black money, saying it was a necessity for the government following a Supreme Court order.
V Vijaysai Reddy (YSR Congress) termed the Union Budget
as "historic" in terms of doing away with a separate Railways Budget and also as it was presented in the backdrop of the demonetisation initiative.
Citing various benefits, he suggested shifting of the financial year to make it January-December instead of the system of April-March.
Speaking about Andhra Pradesh, he said the state is on the brink of bankruptcy.
"The central government has not come to the rescue of the state government. I have no hesitation in saying that the state has been served a raw deal in this Budget," Reddy said.
Citing interest burden and excise duties, he said the revenue share of the state has fallen and it required assistance from the central government.
Shantaram Naik (Congress) attacked the government on its various initiatives like 'Make-in-India and 'Start-up India'. He said there is "total confusion" and dearth of clarity on these schemes on the part of the government.
"Can government tell us which agreements it has inked with foreign countries for 'Make-in-India? There is total confusion. If you ask different secretaries, they will come out with their own different versions of the initiative," Naik said.
Questioning government's 'Start-Up India' initiative, he said only a "few per cent" of the people have warmed up to it.
"Which are the businesses under 'Start-Up India' which have been supported by the banks," he asked the government.
Naik said around 30-40 lakh people in private sector lost jobs due to demonetisation.
"Besides, over 100 people died and the government did not agree with us to even condole the deaths of these people," Naik lamented.
Rangasayee Ramakrishna (BJP) said the government is moving in the right direction in terms of Budget. He suggested that there was a need to work on providing skill oriented training with focus on job assurance.
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Trinamool member Vivek Gupta said West Bengal does not get its share of revenues in the cess and surcharge levied by the Centre.
CPI(M) member A Somaprasad demanded job reservation in the private sector.
He also spoke about the low allocation for the welfare of SC/ST in the budget.
Congress member P Bhattacharya said there should be uniform procurement system of food grains in the entire country.
BJP member Basawaraj Patil urged the government to complete all rail projects in Karnataka.
The government, with the help of Niti Aayog, should prepare a comprehensive economic policy particularly in the field of health, education and industry, he added.
Congress member Anandbhaskar Rapolu said allocation for health and social sector should be enhanced.
