Kolkata, Feb 01 (UNI) Former West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Tuesday said there is no statement on controlling spiralling unemployment in the Union Budget. ” They are talking of reaching tap water to all rural housholds. But the fact is to date, only 17 percent rural household has tap water, ” said Mitra, currently Finance Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. ” The states get the benefits from the centrally sponsored schemes. But there has been no increase in the allocation for such schemes, ” he said adding, ” There is no mention in the budget speech about any social protection scheme, or scheme for elderly people. Neither is there any scheme for the families of those who died of Covid19. ” ” The speech was silent on ways to raise farm income which is the mainstay of the rural economy of our country. The salaried middle class has also not received any relief in income tax, ” Mitra stated. ” But what is most dangerous is the reduction in the allocation for MGNREGA, which provides a guaranteed income to the rural population. Though there is no mention in the budget speech, I found from the budget documents that the allocation has been cut from rs 98,000 crore in the previous budget, to Rs 73,000 crore in the budget presented today (Tuesday). ” ” The budget had presented them with a great opportunity to go for course correction. They should have admitted that they pursued the wrong policy by laying stress only on the supply side while not going for demand stimulation,” he said and iterated that in this budget they should have changed track and gone for demand stimulation by putting money in the hands of the people, which the entire world is doing.
