Budget has failed to address Punjab’s concerns, says Capt
Friday, 02/02/2018
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CHANDIGARH: Dismissing it as nonvisionary and anti-farmer, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has described the Union Budget as ‘disappointing’ for the state, with the Union finance minister having failed to address most of the issues raised by Punjab at the pre-budget meeting and announce any measures to address the farmers’ distress.
Not only did the budget not contain any announcement on farm loan waiver, it also failed to implement the Swaminathan Committee report in toto, making it clear that the central government did not recognize the agrarian distress of the state’s farmers, Amarinder he said in his initial reaction.
“Punjab, which has implemented loan waiver for the beleaguered farmers despite severe financial constraints, was expecting something on it in the budget. However, the Government of India has miserably failed to share its responsibility in the budget towards the farmers, who have provided food security to the nation,” he said.
Reacting cautiously to the proposed hike in MSP to fix it at 1.5 times the expenditure, the CM said while the details would need to be examined, on the face of it, the Centre should have implemented the Swaminathan Committee report in full.
He further said that if the central government was serious about the issue, it should implement the report of Niti Ayog member Ramesh Chand on the issue. He said the budget had been
silent on the modalities to meet its declared obligations in most of the sectors, especially in the context of the fact that it had failed to provide its share of money in various schemes during the last financial year. He further pointed to the central government’s failure to allocate any budget to celebrate the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh this year, or the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, despite specific requests from the state.
