The reaction to the Union Budget on Friday has been on political lines in the two northern states of Haryana and Punjab. While the BJP ruled Haryana hailed the Budget as visionary, Congress ruled Punjab said it completely lacked any vision.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal hailed the Union Budget for 2019-20, presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as a budget for “Gaon, Garib and Kisan” which will give investment and job creation a decisive push, and build the foundation for making India a $5-trillion economy.
Reacting to her maiden Budget proposals here, the Chief Minister said that the budget visibly carried an imprint of the thinking of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who thinks and cares for the common man. These will surely spur growth and investment, he said.
The thrust on building infrastructure, taking power and clean cooking facility to every rural household by 2022, stress on zero budget farming which makes farming a self-sustainable practice and extension of the pension benefit to 3 crore retail traders under PM Karam Yogi Maan Dhan Scheme more than justify it as a true budget for “Gaon, Garib and Kisan”, he said.
The Chief Minister also said proposals like Rs 5 lakh minimum limit announced for taxpayers, PAN and Aadhaar made interchangeable for filing I-Tax returns, additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles, additional deduction of Rs.1.5 lakh on loans up to March 31, 2020 for buying affordable houses, giving Rs 7 lakh benefit to home buyers would go a long way in giving the middle class the much-needed relief.
It is a wholesome budget which will open up gates for foreign investment and make India the cynosure of all investing eyes, the Chief Minister added.
Reacting to the budget presented in the Parliament on Friday, Haryana Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu has it as historical and development oriented. Capt Abhimanyu said that this budget would be successful in making India a 5 trillion dollars economy.
The budget presented by the Union Finance Minister is dedicated towards the welfare of the villages, poor, youth, women and farmers. It is a budget that is the foundation of progressive and strong India in which attention has been paid to 130 crore people of the country, the Finance Minister said.
He further said that the budget has some important schemes such as the implementation of Aadarsh Kiraya Kanoon across the country, making available loans to small shopkeepers in 59 minutes, supplying water to every household by 2024 through taps under ‘Har Ghar Jal, Har Ghar Nal’ scheme and upgradation of roads to connect villages to rural markets.
In the budget, the implementation of new education policy has also been announced and it is planned to make one crore students skilled. In the budget, it has been proposed to start ‘Student in India’ Scheme, which will benefit all the students, he added.
PUNJAB CM TRASHES THE BUDGET
Trashing the Union Budget 2019-20 as completely lacking in vision, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday said it had nothing to offer to any section of the society, ignoring even critical sectors like Defence and making no allocation for the historic 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji.
In a scathing criticism of the budget, the Chief Minister described it as being long on talk and short on delivery. Ignoring vital issues of national interest, the Union Finance Minister had spoken of achievements in the past tense and made promises in the future tense, with no indication of what the government intended to offer to the people today, he added.
The past achievements referred to in the budget were a testimony to the work done by the previous Congress governments, which the BJP-led NDA government was trying to negate instead of making any meaningful contribution to the nation’s progress in the present, said the Chief Minister. The budget contained no roadmap whatsoever for the nation’s growth and development, he added.
Capt Amarinder expressed shock over the fact that, after hyping the nationalist agenda to win the Lok Sabha elections, the NDA had completely ignored this critical subject, announcing a meager 6.5% increase in the defence budget – barely sufficient to meet the inflationary cost - with no capital expenditure outlay. It was strange, said the Chief Minister, that for the first time the finance minister of the country had wrapped up the budget speech without a mention of fiscal deficit and important sectors such as defence.
The Punjab chief minister flayed the Government of India’s failure to announce any impactful interventions or incentives for agriculture, which was witnessing a complete collapse with distressed farmers resorting to suicides. He lashed out at the NDA government for turning a blind eye to the plight of farmers, saying the `zero-budget farming’ proposal was a mere hogwash containing no clear or definitive solutions to their problems. He lamented that the central government had once again failed to come out with a farm debt waiver scheme and had also made no commitment on implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.
After asking states to cut down VAT on petrol, which Punjab had also done as directed, the central government had chosen to impose cess on petrol, and that too amid mounting US-Iran tensions which threatened to trigger a global crisis over petrol, the Chief Minister further pointed out.
He expressed outrage over the government’s decision to impose majority of new charges in the form of cess and surcharge, instead of imposing taxes, in what was clearly an attack on India’s federal structure and an attempt to dilute the Centre-State relations. By not announcing new taxes, and imposing cess/surcharge instead, the Centre had deprived states of their 42% share of the revenue which would have devolved on them under the taxation system, he pointed out.
Further, there was no suggestion in the budget on how the government intended to generate employment, said Captain Amarinder, adding that the GDP figures had been clearly manipulated to falsify growth projections.
The entire budget document showcased the stressed under which the Indian economy was today, said the Chief Minister, warning of further regression unless the Centre comes out with strong fiscal stimulants to infuse positivity in the environment.