-
Opposition parties today trained its guns on the the Narendra Modi government in Rajya Sabha over the Union Budget 2016, calling it an "economic blunder" and terming some of its announcements as election "jumla". Members from Congress, Samajwadi Party and JD-U also targetted the government on the farmers front, wondering whether the government has any agricultural road map. (Image Source: PTI)
-
Naresh Agrawal (Samajwadi Party) spoke about difficulty in loans for the poor and the farmer and asked the government to clearly define the parameters of poverty. "No loan is given without giving commission. Has any action been taken against any Chairman, Regional Managers and Managers of banks." Talking about corruption in MGNREGA, he said the government should rather withdraw it as instead of giving employment, it was encouraging corruption which has made the election of village heads an expensive affair. (Image Source: PTI)
-
Naresh Agrawal (Samajwadi Party) also advised the government to accept the recommendations of a Parliamentary panel to increase the salary of MPs. While arguing that the government should take effective steps for population control, Aggrawal said the government should either do it through education "or should adopt the style of Sanjay Gandhi." (Image Source: PTI)
-
Pawan Kumar Verma (JDU) posed 10 questions to the government on the 'mystifying' Budget. While the budget claims that economy will accelerate to 7.6 per cent and India is hailed as a bright spot, exports are "sinking" for last 15 months in a row and the manufacturing sector is in a "very bleak" position. He also wondered that at a time when banks are facing bankruptcy and farmers are under debt, the government is talking of providing further loans to agriculturists through the banks. He also dubbed as "double betrayal" the government's promise on minimum support price. The JD-U member wondered whether the promise to double the income of farmers by 2022 is just "another election jumla (phrase)". (Image Source: PTI)
-
Alleging that the budget lacked bold ideas, Balchandra Mungekar (Congress) said its proposal for increasing indirect tax was "regressive". Mungekar, who was giving his last speech in the Upper House ahead of his retirement this month, criticised the government for being anti-Congress and advised them to spend time working rather than criticising the opposition party. "I request the BJP government to get rid of hatred towards the Congress and treat each other as respectable political opponents," he said initiating the debate on the budget. Mungekar said the budget has failed to provide any concrete relief to the farmer or the agriculture sector. (Image Source: PTI)
-
Mungekar also took a dig at HRD Minister Smriti Irani while highlighting the problems in the education sector, saying "HRD Minister should devote more time and energy to attend to these issues rather than hunting for anti-national students in the universities". (Image Source: PTI)
US announces new rules for selection of H-1B visa for foreign workers
