Anti-poor Budget : CPI MSC

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 2 : The Budget produced in the Parliament yesterday is anti-people and anti-development, charged Manipur State Council CPI today.
It said the Budget provides no solution to unemployment and is against the common people, workers and labourers.
Speaking to reporters at Irawat Bhawan, assistant secretary Manipur State Council CPI M Joykumar claimed the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would only increase the gap between the classes.
The Budget favours the rich and is against the interest of the common people. When the Budget is supposed to show how much the economy has suffered, it did not show any of this. In fact, the Budget hid this and showed only the good sides, he claimed.
Also, the funds earmarked and allocated for education, health, MGN-REGA, Food Security are minimal.
The funds for the agriculture sector have also been reduced and this shows that the Government has no interest for the farmers and their livelihoods, he claimed.
Earlier, the fund earmarked for Food Subsidy was Rs 2.8 crore. This has been reduced to Rs 1.9 crore. Fund for ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) has also been reduced. Also, the fund for NREGS was Rs 4,89,000 crore earlier and this has been reduced to Rs 60,000 crore, he said.
All the spendings on the social sector has been reduced and this would have more adverse impact on the poor, let alone improve their conditions. The Budget is anti-people and anti-development, he said.
Further, the Budget also has no mention of the funds for the North East States. As most of the funds have been reduced, it can be predicted that the funds for the NE States may also be reduced. If this is true then small States like Manipur would face immense hardships, Joykumar said.
The Communist Party across India is voicing against the Budget with the party’s National secretariat denouncing it in the strongest terms yesterday, he added.