Some opposition parties have welcomed the budget.
Picking flaws in the Union Budget 2016-17, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday said it lacked vision and was full of "hollow promises".
It also burdened commoners by way of "inflationary" indirect taxation, he said. "As with the previous two budgets, this budget of the Modi govt is again full of hollow promises and slogans. The numbers just don't add up. "FM says Budget is about fulfilling 'desires & dreams' but it has no vision. The dead certainty from it is of a shrinking economy," Yechury said in a series of tweets.
The Rajya Sabha member observed that the schemes announced/supported by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the budget were the ones opposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before elections, adding increasing cess will hurt common man.
"Increasing cess hurts the common man, with indirect tax collections proposed to be up by Rs 20,600 cr. Direct tax proposals are down by Rs 1,060 cr. This means more burden on common people as indirect taxes are inflationary. So there will be no expansion in domestic demand," he stated.
Trinamool Congress on Monday dubbed the General Budget 2016-17 as "hopeless," saying it does not offer any solution to the economic problems. "This budget is not constructive, nor is it creative. It is stereotype and routine. We are left with no option, but to call it a hopeless budget," TMC, which rules West Bengal, said in a statement here. The party headed by Mamata Banerjee said the budget does not offer any hope for the farmers, downtrodden or even for industry.
"There is no hope for industry, no hope for the farmers, no hope for the poor, no hope for the middle class, no hope even for the Sensex," TMC said, adding "no major tax reforms to benefit the middle class. Lots of big words. No real big solutions." Taking on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, TMC said "The FM made an attempt to emphasize on social sector schemes. But the reality is different. Almost 40 social sector schemes have been stopped and states have been burdened for funding new schemes."
While giving an example of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sevak Yojana, TMC said "Instead of the Centre, which is now funding 100 per cent, it will only fund 60 per cent and the states have to bear 40 per cent. So in West Bengal where Rs 3000 crore was spent, the state would now have to shoulder a burden of Rs 1200 crore. Is this cooperative federalism?" The TMC was also critical of the FDI policy.
"We believe in total transparency. Why has the FM not mentioned the details of the changes in the FDI policy in his budget speech? It is shrouded in an annexure and opens up 100 per cent FDI in many sectors. Why can't the government be transparent?," it asked.
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