The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the General Budget. Replying to the members of the House, Finance Minister Arun Jaitly said that the NDA Government has been taking steps to move ahead from the environment of hijacked economy, drifted of policies and indecisiveness for the past 10 years.
Appreciating the concerns expressed by the members during the discussion in last two days, Jaitley promised to take a series of steps besides the Budgetary provisions for sustainable growth amid indications of some recovery.
He said it was necessary for generating more revenues and increasing spending that would benefit the poor and marginalised sections of the society.
“There has been a marginal improvement in various economic parameters like exports, capital inflows and industrial sector as per the recent data. But this could not be termed as a trend but early signs of recovery. I hope that interest will soften with moderation in inflation. Interest rates have gone up because inflation is high. I hope interest rate comes down (with decline in inflation). Every individual should start more savings too,” Jaitley said in his late evening speech.
A total of 46 members from all the political parties including the nominated and independents spoke on the budget initiated by former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday who had said that Modi budget was “uninspiring” and “devoid of any vision and bug picture”. After Jaitley’s reply Sharma pointed that inclusive growth remains a concern and it is very important that wealth created should be redistributed accordingly.
Jaitley said that FDI is an additional resource and further adequate amount of investments will create jobs and thus turning profits which would be used for developing social infrastructure.
MoS Finance Nirmala Sitharaman assured the members that promises made will be fulfilled since the government is headed by a man who headed for years a dynamic state (Gujarat) and each time he came back to fulfill the promises made. Taking a jibe on Congress members accusations that Modi budget is a copy of UPA’s policies, Sitharaman said that the opposition is confused whether to compliment or difficult to accept. She said that budget talks about newer opportunities and is a documentary of hope for Indians.
Earlier in the day Congress members Jairam Ramesh and Mani Shankar Aiyar attacked the government and Jaitley in particular saying said allocations made for several schemes are ongoing initiatives announced by the UPA government. He also asked the government to clear confusion surrounding Aadhar-linked bank accounts for direct transfer of subsidies under various schemes to beneficiaries.
Aiyar termed the Budget as most unimaginative and said it has little for “unsuccessful” Indians to cheer and said this Budget is known for “length” rather than content. Criticising it for lacking focus on Panchyati Raj, Aiyar said the Finance Minister appears to have “not heard of the Panchyati Raj” system. He said only by empowering poor, the multi dimensional poverty can be countered. Chandan Mitra of BJP termed the Budget as “game changer” and that said the poverty alleviation programme has received a “fillip”. Mitra appreciated Jaitley’s effort to present the dynamic vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his budget aiming to grow for everyone’s interest “Sabka Saath”.
“This is a budget of hope, budget of promise and overall a holistic budget which has given a blueprint for Indians and in the time to come every Indian will be able to feel proud. The country which had a hit roadblock due to successive governments will now move in fifth gear since the journey of growth has resumed,” Mitra said.
He however demanded an attention towards West Bengal to revive some of the ailing and shut down industries like Dunlop and implement National Jute Policy. He said the government’s clear motive to clean Ganga makes him happy as he himself is a Chora Ganga Kinarey Wala and stayed in Hooghly.
Earlier BJP’s Vijay Goel and Congress’ Rajiv Shukla engaged themselves in a war of couplets as they sought to play a blame game on the condition of economy inherited by the Modi government. They were later joined by a humour-filled potery by Ramdas Athawale of RPI.
NCP’s Praful Patel taunted the government saying it very conveniently coined the term smart cities and caught the fancy of the people. “What is these smart cities, nobody knows. We really haven’t got the concept right. We should have come with the definition of smart city,” said Patel. Nominated member Anu Aga expressed profound disappointment over having to wait for two-long years till today to make her maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha due to “frequent disruptions”