Delhi, 1 February: Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, while reacting to the budget, has said that the government lacks new ideas and is working within a limited scope. Due to continuing on the old path, the growth rate of the economy will not exceed 6 to 6.5 percent. In such a situation, how will the nation become developed for which 8 percent growth rate is required.
In a press conference organized by the Congress Party to react to the budget, P. Chidambaram said that the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister did not pay attention to the advice of the Chief Economic Advisor. He had advised the government to step back but many schemes were again added to the budget, many of which are beyond the control of the government. He said that the Finance Minister is not ready for economic reform like in 1991 and 2004.
He said that reducing the fiscal deficit from 4.9 percent to 4.8 percent is not an achievement. The economy is paying a heavy price for this. Currently the economy is heading towards recession. People are feeling it. The government’s ability to make plans and implement them is decreasing. The capital expenditure for 2025-26 has been increased by Rs 1.02 lakh crore but there are doubts about the government fulfilling this capacity.
P. Chidambaram said that the government has tried to woo only the middle class taxpayers and the voters of Bihar. These announcements will be welcomed by 3.02 crore taxpayers and 7.65 crore voters of Bihar, the Finance Minister has only consoling words for the rest of India.
Chidambaram said that the 2024-25 financial performance shows a reduction of Rs 41,240 crore in revenue and a reduction of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in total expenditure. This has hurt many sectors of the economy. Budgets related to health, education, social welfare, agriculture, rural development, urban development, Northeast development have been cut. The budget has been cut significantly on many schemes. This prominently includes the PM Scheduled Caste Abhyaday Yojana.
He said that it seems that the government has lost faith in many of its schemes. This includes Poshan Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, National Social Assistance Program, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Crop Insurance Scheme, Urea Subsidy, PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. The most injustice has been done to the country’s railways. Instead of increasing the allocation related to it, it has actually been reduced. Employment related schemes are only a sham.
