New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday slammed the Centre, saying the Union Budget did not address the core problems the country is facing and failed to provide succour to the suffering people.
The budgetary allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has been reduced drastically in this year’s Budget which is a hit to the rural economy of the country, Moily said in a statement.
“Budget 2023 seems to be a whitewash after the nine years of regime of Modi. It has not addressed the core problems the country is facing,” he said.
It does not provide succour to the suffering lot of the people, the former Union minister said.
Moily claimed the Budget did not address the major issues.
According to the World Inequality Report 2022, India is among the most “unequal countries” in the world, with rising poverty and an “affluent elite”, he said.
India’s share of the world’s extreme poor is higher than its share of the world population, he pointed out.
One of the challenges for the government is creating job opportunities for the youth, with ugly unemployment numbers coming out as a consistent feature of the economy and raising fears of a demographic disaster, Moily said.
“The Union Budget is extravagant in giving numbers. We need some clarity on what is required, the first of which is a sharp focus on delivering inclusive growth,” he said.
“The Budget did not speak on inflation, price rise and unemployment. In the absence of solutions for unemployment, high inflation and crushing household expenditure, consumption cannot be augmented,” the Congress leader argued.
The Budget did not talk about allocation to health and education, which is a worry for future growth prospects as India remains one of the weakest spenders in these areas globally, he claimed.
“Unlike Dr Manmohan Singh’s budget of 1991, which marked a structural shift in India’s economy, the present Budget does not inspire any such confidence,” Moily said. PTI ASK DIV DIV
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