New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget 2022-23 and termed it as "anti-farmer". Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Finance Minister claimed that the government has reduced the allocation for Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the budget.
"The public had huge aspirations from the budget due to the pandemic related woes. The people have been left bereft. There's nothing in this budget for the common man, nothing that will reduce the backbreaking inflation," Sisodia said in a virtual conference.
He said, "They (Centre) reduced the targets and number of beneficiaries of the MSP. The target for the purchase of paddy and wheat has been reduced from 1,286 million tonnes to 1,208 million tonnes. MSP allocation has been reduced from 2.48 lakh crores to 2.37 lakh crores. They did not just reduce their targeted procurement but also the budget allocation essential for the agriculture sector from earlier 4.5 per cent to 3.8 per cent."
"This is a complete fraud. The Centre itself is admitting that it is reducing the scope of the scheme (MSP) and the beneficiaries will reduce from 1.97 crore farmers to 1.68 crores. There couldn't have possibly been a more anti-farmer budget in our history," he added.
Talking about the budget share for the health sector, Sisodia said, "The pandemic taught the whole world that health infrastructure needed hefty investment to protect lives. But, the Central government has kept the health allocation as it was in the last year."
"Education faced a huge blow because of Covid....But, the Central government in no way talked about the New Education Policy (NEP) in its budget. The policy says that the Centre must allocate six per cent of its budget to education for this policy to become a reality. But in reality, they reduced the already abysmal share of education from 2.67 per cent to 2.64 per cent," Sisodia, who is also the Delhi education minister, said.
"The budget for skilling was reduced by a staggering 30 per cent. They talk about the merits of the NEP but continue to defund the education sector. There can not be a bigger hypocrite than this regime," he added.
"The Centre claims they will create 60 lakh jobs...I thought they might introduce some new framework but this is merely a jumla and nothing else," Sisodia said.
"Today, 5.5 crore people roam unemployed in India. They (Central government) want to fool our public by saying they'll create 60 lakh jobs despite continuously failing at it and what will you honestly do by creating 60 lakh jobs in five years when 5.5 crores roam unemployed in the present," he asserted.
Sisodia concluded with "dissatisfaction" over unchanged Income Tax slab. "Today, this country needed some relief in the income tax slabs. This would have helped our middle class regain purchasing power and enter the markets. This would have naturally helped the economy grow."
Observing the 3rd World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day as a key moment to highlight the global community's commitment to ending these, India joined close to 40 other nations to illuminate iconic landmarks to raise awareness. This year, India lit up the New Delhi Railway Station in purple and orange hues to mark the occasion.
The accused have been identified as Nitin Pratap alias Atul and Sandeep Kumar -- residents of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. Police said the accused used a Suzuki Gixxer motorcycle for the last two months to commit the crime in Gurugram and Rajasthan, and they used to travel from Tapukara in Rajasthan once a week to snatch mobile phones.
The deceased, identified as Megha Kayal, 40, was working as a doctor in London Milton Keynes University Hospital. Prior to this, she was a doctor at Apollo hospital, Sarita Vihar, Delhi.
A gofundme has raised US$70,000 for the victim family. The bodies of the four family members – who have been identified after autopsies as Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37, daughter Vihangi Patel, 11, and son Dharmik Patel, 3 – are currently lying in a morgue in Winnipeg.
Senior advocate and Additional Solicitor General Rupinder Singh Suri passed away, sources said here on Monday. According to reports, he was battling Covid-related complications for over a week. He is survived by his wife Gurvinder and advocate daughters Suruchi and Simar.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told the Punjab government counsel to advise his government to refrain from launching criminal cases against the political opponents, just before the election. The top court directed Majithia to surrender on February 24 before the trial court and seek regular bail.
