Union budget has nothing for 99 per cent people in the country: Yogendra Yadav

SRINAGAR, (PTI): Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said the Union budget has nothing for 99 per cent of the citizens of the country, while alleging that the government is only concerned about a few rich people.

He also accused the government of not paying any heed to farmers’ concerns in the budget.

”The biggest problems this country is facing are unemployment, price rise, rising inequality. There is not a single word in the budget on these issues. It means let the people go to hell, we do not care. We are only concerned about (Gautam) Adani’s depreciating assets, we are only concerned about a few rich people. There is nothing in the budget for 99 per cent of the people in this country,” Yadav told reporters here.

He pointed out that the budget was presented a year after the farmers’ agitation against three agriculture laws of the Centre, which have since been repealed, and is the last full budget of the BJP-led government, but ”I could not see a farmer in it”.

”It seems they have forgotten the farmers. Earlier, the farmers used to get something in the budget. If not anything, they would still get some dialogue. If not even that, at least some scheme would be announced as a bluff.

”This time, a farmer is totally missing in the budget. There are agri-entrepreneurs, companies, digital startups, digital kisans, but not the Indian farmer,” Yadav said.

He said a budget usually talks about what percentage of the total expenditure for the country would be spent on agriculture, ”but there was nothing like that in this budget”. ”They (the government) had said they will double the farmers’ income in six years. That time has gone. Has the income doubled? We do not know that,” he added.

”There is no word on what should be done about the farmers not getting any benefits of the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana. There is not a single word on how to increase the funds for the MGNREGA. An agri-infra fund of Rs 1 lakh crore was to be spent over six years. Three years have passed and not even 10 per cent of it has been used, but there is no word on how they will use it,” Yadav said.

He said he felt the finance minister was nervous while presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha.

”I do not know why, whether she forgetting or not able to understand what she was talking about,” Yadav said.

”I do not think there has been any budget so far in the country that has totally kept farmers out of sight. This budget has,” he added. (PTI)