Union Budget anti-poor, anti-growth: Hooda

Chandigarh, Feb 1

Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday described the Union Budget as anti-poor, anti-farmers and anti-growth as it announced to cut welfare schemes.

He said the state remained empty-handed in the Budget as no special plan was announced.

The Leader of Opposition said the people of the country and the state were struggling with problems like inflation and unemployment, but there was no provision in the Budget to provide relief to them.

"Farmers are agitating for minimum support price (MSP) and employees are agitating for old pension scheme. The Budget is silent on their demands. During the coronavirus period, every class had to face heavy losses, but no provision has been made in the Budget for its compensation," he said in a statement here.

Citing figures, Hooda said fertiliser subsidy was reduced from Rs 2.25 lakh crore to Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the Budget. "Urea subsidy was Rs 1,54,098 crore in last year's revised budget, this time it was reduced to Rs 1,31,100 crore. Similarly, food subsidy was reduced from Rs 2.87 to Rs 1.97 lakh crore."

Similarly, the budget of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) has also been reduced from Rs 89,400 crore to Rs 60,000 crore. A sum of Rs 12,954 crore was announced in the last budget for Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, which now came down to Rs 10,787 crore, he said.

A sum of Rs 68,000 crore was announced in the last Budget for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, this time it was reduced to Rs 60,000 crore, he said. Likewise, the outlay for the crop insurance scheme was Rs 15,500 crore in the last Budget and this time it was reduced to Rs 13,625 crore. "The budget makes less than 1 per cent provision of total GDP in education and health. These two sectors should have been given the highest priority," Hooda added.