Chandigarh, February 2, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Reacting over the Union Budget that was presented on Saturday, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Mr. Sunil Jakhar said that the anti-Punjab face of the Modi government once again stays exposed.
The Union cabinet has got three ministers from Punjab but they failed in getting any major allocation earmarked for the state that faced fiscal debts due to 10-yr long SAD BJP misrule. Are they in New Delhi only to protect their own berths in the cabinet, he asked?
Mr Jakhar said that Central government had ignored state govt’s request to make provision for funds to celebrate Guru Teg Bahadur Ji’s 400-year Gurpurb. Earlier the GoI did not help Punjab in celebrating Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s 550th birth anniversary.
The budget presented in the Parliament by the Modi government, missed plans to improve the condition of farmers, labourer and other weaker sections, no attempt has been made to bail out economic slowdown, he said.
Mr Jakhar said that the country was reeling under severe economic crisis at present but there was no policy or intention to address these issues in the Budget. Rural India has been left unattended. Only flimsy talks were offered for the farmers, they have nothing to cheer about.
“To improve the economy, focus should be on rural India. By giving a boost to the income of the rural population, purchase power can be increased which further enhances sales of the products, benefit the industry, create more job opportunities, rise in tax collections and the country can progress as a whole.
But the Modi government was showering concessions only on the big entrepreneurs, this will neither increase production, nor reduce unemployment or recession, PPCC president claimed.
He said that the BJP government had proved that poor and rural India is not on its agenda. MGNREGA scheme had made a big contribution to the development and income growth in rural India, but the Modi government has not given any priority to this program of employment generation for unskilled workers and infrastructure development of our villages. It was the MGNREGA only which provides jobs to rural people and boost the economy, Jakhar added.
Criticising the plan to sell government stake in a profit-driven institution like LIC, Mr. Jakhar said that the BJP was running the government by selling assets. The government should give a modest waiver in direct taxes, closing the other exemptions will bring the situation back to the same stage. Union Government has made the Direct Tax regime as difficult to understand as it made earlier GST regime. The tax payers were unable to understand new tax regime.
Mr Jakhar said that once again Union Finance Minister has again promised to double farmers’ income in next 2 years, but nothing was actually done for the farmers. While talking about solar pump scheme announced in budget speech, he said that Punjab was one way out of this scheme by adding condition of barren land with solar pump scheme.
