Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said there was nothing in the 2016-17 General Budget for farmers who were committing suicide across the country. His deputy Manish Sisodia said, “The people of Delhi have been cheated again as there is no special amount for us.”
“Farmers are in debt. The loans of rich industrialists have been waived off but not of the farmers. There is nothing for the farmers in the Budget,” Kejriwal said in a tweet while reacting to the Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the lok Sabha on Monday.
Merely opening up stores of generic medicines (in the country) would not work, Kejriwal said. Dispensaries should be set up in every village for free treatment, he added.
He said the middle class was also cheated in the Budget. “There is nothing for the middle class in this Budget. The Modi Government cheated the middle class which votes for them,” he said in a series of tweets.
Future projects in the city are likely to be hit as the budgetary grants are too less as compared to what we have asked for, said deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, adding, “We are left with no other option than to spend from our own resources.”
“The kind of tax structure they have given is like from the back door. They are proposing cess so that they won’t have to share it with states. No solid step on black money. Now they are announcing protection for black money holders from back door,” said the deputy CM.
Also, he came down heavily on the Union Government’s proposal to double the income of farmers by 2022. “There is no clarity on what farmer will get in 2016-17. To double the income of farmers by 2022, there is a need of growth rate by 14 per cent in agriculture while it is currently 0.5 per cent. How this will happenIJ The Union Government talks about 2022 but they do not know what will happen in 2019,” Sisodia said.
He said there is nothing in the Budget on black money. “The Modi Government has announced a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme and has given amnesty to people running a parallel economy in the country. Now one can declare his/her ill-earned wealth, without giving out source of procuring that wealth by paying 45 per cent tax and penalties. The Government has given a safe passage to black marketers,” he said.