BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the union budget will boost farmers’ income. However, the opposition Congress dubbed it as a “misleading budget based on the jugglery of numbers.”
Chouhan, in a tweet, said, “Agriculture is the lifeline of our country. I welcome government’s decision to provide 1.5 times of cost as minimum support price (MSP) for rabi crops. This step will boost farmer incomes.” He said the cluster farming will help small and marginal farmers.
“Specialised agri processing will help us to utilise well our surplus production and improve realisations for farmers. This budget will also boost organic farming,” Chouhan said in another tweet.
He said that Ujjwala scheme (for providing free LPG cylinders) has brought about a positive change in the lives of rural women. “Saubhagya Yojana (providing power connections) will play a crucial role in realising the goal of power for all,” he further said.
Lauding the announcement of health schemes, Chouhan said in a tweet, “This is a revolutionary health protection scheme for the poor covering 50 crore of population. This will provide significant relief to poor and vulnerable from high medical expenses while providing quality healthcare.”
“Another landmark initiative taken in field of education. Allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore for RISE will give a significant uplift to school infrastructure in India making learning more interactive and efficient,” he said in another tweet.
Chouhan also lauded the allocation of a whopping Rs 95,000 crore for development and welfare of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. “The budget would offer a big boost to MSME sector as the firms with a turnover of Rs 250 crore (previously Rs 50 crore) will now benefit from the lower tax rate of 25 percent,” he said. This will provide a significant fillip to industry and investments, he added.
The opposition Congress said the budget did not reflect the expectations of people from Modi government. “This budget has harmed interests of middle class. This is true BJP type budget, which shattered dreams of people. This is a misleading budget based on jugglery of numbers,” said Ajay Singh, the Leader of Opposition in state assembly.
Ajay Singh, Leader of opposition in state assembly
The union budget is full of fake promises and false dreams. The government, which promised to provide two crore jobs every year is now claiming to give only 70 lakh jobs for the youths. The government has tried to focus on farmers in the budget but failed to match the requirements. It is declared that the farmers are going to get support price of one and a half of production cost but no allocation has been made.
Arun Yadav, State Congress president
This budget comes as a hammer on dreams of the middle class people. No change has been made in the income tax slab. It is ironic that instead of waving off the debt owned by farmers, the government have made provisions to take loans. This will not help the farmers. Instead, it will put farmers in a vicious circle of debt.
Alok Agarwal, State convener of Aam Aadmi Party
For 99 cities, Rs 2.04 lakh crore have been allocated. But to improve the basic facilities for 6.70 lakh villages, no provisions have been made. The trains are full of passengers but no new trains have been declared. Super class people in government plan to fly in aeroplane.
