Refuting the Opposition charge that the Union Budget for 2019-20 lacks vision and is anti-poor and farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said in the Rajya Sabha it reflects commitment to boost investment in agriculture and social sector particularly healthcare and education.
She also brushed aside Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s contention that the Narendra Modi Government has not initiated any structural reforms and shied away from bold steps and listed at least 16 such actions including GST, annual dole of Rs 6,000 to all farmers, direct benefit transfer and “radical” changes in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) among others. She also strongly asserted that the five trillion dollar economy by 2025 was achievable after Chidambaram had pooh-poohed this target in his speech on Thursday.
Devoting nearly 45 minutes of her one hour and 40 minutes reply to the three-day debate on her maiden Union Budget in rebutting Chidambaram’s charges made in his assertion on Thursday, Sitharaman said all the targets mentioned in her Budget, including five trillion dollar economy by 2024 were “realistic” and “achievable”.
In fact, the Minister also said the former Finance Minister had attempted to “slight and ridicule” the budget in a “suave manner” and then went on to compare the performance of the five years of the Modi regime with the targets achieved by the previous UPA Government.
She said the NDA Government in 2014 was saddled with an under recovery of more than 1.4 lakh crore left by the then outgoing UPA Government. Moreover, inflation was also high as admitted by then Finance Minister Chidambaram. She also pointed out the voluntary disclosure of income scheme initiated by Chidambaram as finance minister drew strong criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Her sharp reaction came after Chidambaram on Thursday had termed the Budget as “insipid” and lacking in bold steps and structural reforms. He also questioned the five trillion dollar target.
Taking on Chidambaram who was not present in the house as he was away in Chennai and had informed Sitharaman about it, the Minister read out a list of 16 reforms undertaken by the NDA Government and said Chidambaram only listed four reforms during the UPA rule.
Rebutting his assertion of “unachievable” tax projections, she read out numbers to say income tax, excise and GST collection targets are achievable.
While excise collections will boost with Rs 2 per litre increase in tax on petrol and diesel and an amnesty scheme, GST collections will boost by over 14 per cent on simplified return filing and tracking of evasion.
“It is not without a plan,” she said on increasing the size of the economy from USD 2.7 trillion to USD 5 trillion by 2024-25. She then went on the challenge Chidambaram’s comment that a money lender can also calculate regarding five trillion dollar economy and said if it is the case there is no need for a government.
As regards the priorities of the Budget, she said besides focus on agriculture, the plan includes increasing investment coming by way of further liberalisation of FDI rules, lowering of corporate tax to 25 per cent to companies with turnover of up to Rs 400 crore, tax cut on electric vehicles, widening scope of voluntary pension scheme for retail traders and shopkeepers and giving push to infrastructure development with an investment of Rs 100 lakh crore over the next five years.
To criticism of her Budget speech on July 5 not featuring allocations, Sitharaman read out allocations made in employment guarantee scheme, irrigation, rural roads, drinking water, health, education, crop insurance and mid-day meal scheme to say funds made available for 99 schemes having impact on common man have all gone up.
Sitharaman said over the last five years, public sector banks have been recapitalised by Rs 3.19 lakh crore. “NPA problem has been comprehensively addressed by the Government.”
On farmer support schemes, she said extending scope of cash support of Rs 6,000 to every farmer, giving 50 per cent margin of profit on cost of production and timely announcement of MSP increase will help double farmer income by 2022. The Minister also said the Government is considering a proposal for pension scheme for farmers above the age of 60.