Mangaluru: The union budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in Parliament, on Friday evoked mixed response from various quarters including businessmen and individuals in the city. However, farmers who expected more from the union government expressed their displeasure over the budget.
Farmers don’t need alms
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene President Ravikirana Punacha said, “It is an anti-farmer budget. Though small farmers would be provided Rs 6000 annually in three instalments, it is an insult to the farmers. The wrong decisions of government and Free Trade Agreements between India and other countries made farmers incur heavy loss. Farmers don’t want alms from the government. They want a good price for their product. As union government did not give any welfare programmes to farmers, farmers association is planning to launch a movement ‘Modi Hatavo, Kisan Bachao’, in the next coming days”
No vision in the budget
Former president of KCCI Mohammed Amin said that though the union government has announced a farm income scheme, doubling of income-tax relief for the lower middle class and a pension scheme for the bottom of the pyramid is just an assurance ahead of next Lok Sabha election.
“I didn’t see any vision in the budget,” he said.
The budget has instilled confidence among women
Homemaker Rekha Sridhar from Sylvia said that the government has provided Rs 1,330 crore for the mission for Protection and Empowerment of Women. “Besides, benefits of maternity leave of 26 weeks and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana for pregnant women will instil confidence among women,” she said.
Completely ignored the farmers
District in-charge minister U T Khader has said that the people of Karnataka are disappointed by the union government’s budget as there is no welfare programmes for the youth and students. “The union government has completely ignored the demands of the farmers. It is a budget full of fake promises, eying on next Lok Sabha election,” he said.
Teach him how to fish, don’t feed him fish
Chartered Account and NRI Valerian Dalmaida said that in India, the Governments are only introducing SOPs and making the citizens remain poor. Instead of teaching a man how to fish, they are giving him the fish.
A farmer getting Rs 2,000 once in four months what he will do with it? Instead, the Government of the day should have invested in the agrarian economy which constitutes 68% of the economy.
“There are many areas where Government support is required like establishing Agriculture universities, research and development in agriculture and farming, giving tax exemption for individuals and corporates who invest in agriculture, which generates employment and also helps in conserving nature. Unless the Governments concentrate on allocating a large size of the budget for agriculture and rural development and retaining the skill sets of village youths at the village level and stop them fro migrating to cities, no real development is possible,” he said pressing for providing infrastructure to villages in the areas of telecommunication, water, energy, agriculture, crafts and trades, horticulture, animal husbandry and many more.
Dalmaida opined that with nothing much offered for the SMEs and business, the sector seems to have been taken for granted.
Calling it a mere election budget, Dalmaida said that even the salaried people whose salary exceeds Rs 5 lakhs after deductions don’t enjoy the rebate of tax. However, exemption of second self-occupied house from tax bracket is good, he said.
There is nothing mentioned about how the Government is going to have the revenue to absorb the SOPs and higher allocation on defence and other areas.
