Published 13:09 IST, February 1st 2020
As FM Sitharaman presents Budget 2020, Congress presents 'Government's failures'
Live tweeting Nirmala Sitharaman's presentation, Congress leaders Jaiveer Shergill and Anand Sharma condemned the Union Budget 2020, pointing to the flaws.
The Congress party expressed its disapproval in a series of live tweets of the Budget amid the presentation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Live tweeting Nirmala Sitharaman's presentation, Congress leaders Jaiveer Shergill and Anand Sharma condemned the Union Budget 2020, pointing out the 'flaws'. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma asserted that 'entrepreneurship' had nosedived under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, there has been a collapse in investments and accused the government of proposing a 'grand clearance sale of national assets.'
In a series of criticism, Anand Sharma said, "Finance Ministers claim of doubling farmers income is hollow and contradicted by factual reality. Agri growth has fallen to 2% doubling farmers income will need 11% annual growth. Allocation inadequate assurance lacks sincerity. Nirmala Seetharaman has failed to explain the budgetary maths. As revenue receipts till November are only 45% of the budget estimates there is a gaping hole. Flowery language and high-sounding words and platitudes are meaningless."
"Entrepreneurship has nosedived under PM Modi's watch. Manufacturing is less than 2% & fixed asset formation is at 30 year low. There is a collapse of investments. Pvt sector has no capacity to invest. Less than half of last year's disinvestment target of 1 lac crore met. His government after dragging the economy to ruination now proposes a grand clearance sale of national assets assiduously built over 70 years to make up for its monumental mismanagement," Anand Sharma added.
Congress' Jaiveer Shergill reprimanded Nirmala Sitharaman's recitation of a Kashmiri poem, saying that it would not compensate for the trade loss, job losses than incurred since the abrogation of Article 370 last year. In addition, said that the Budget seems to be on a path of 'boosting' the BJP government's ego like a 'gas balloon.'
Shergill said, "Narrating a poem on Kashmir will not compensate $1 billion trade loss, 1 Lac Job Loss in private sector since August 5 - Is Budget scripting a solution to economic mess or is it merely a script of poetry and dialogues? Finance Minister introduction on budget focus and aspirations is like a teacher awarding 100/100 to a student who left the answer sheet blank -rather than adopting a corrective, revival, boosting economy approach Budget 2020 seems to be on path of boosting Govt ego like a gas balloon."
India 5th largest economy
India is now the fifth largest economy in the world and the Central government debt has reduced to 48.7% of GDP from 52.2% in March 2014, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. Presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21, she said growth of 7.4% was surpassed in 2014-19 with average inflation of 4.5%. Sitharaman also listed out various welfare schemes like affordable housing, direct benefit transfer (DBT) and Ayushman Bharat.
Updated 13:09 IST, February 1st 2020