Budget ‘transformational’, will benefit poor: Ministers

Team Udayavani, Feb 1, 2017, 5:25 PM IST

New Delhi: Several ministers today hailed the Union Budget as “inspiring” and “transformational”, contending that it will give a strong push to infrastructure sector, bring about electoral reforms and benefit the farmers, poor and the middle class.

The ministers also lauded Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for offering “many” concessions to honest tax payers, while tightening the noose around those evading taxes and fleeing the country.

They said the big push given to the infrastructure sector will transform rural India.

With the budget announcing an electoral reform wherein political parties can receive a maximum of Rs 2,000 in cash from one source as donations, the ministers took an apparent dig at the opposition saying those parties running on black money will become “extremely poor”.

“It’s a fine exercise taken up by the Finance Minister.

It’s very inspiring, bold steps has been announced.

Particularly the political funding has been made transparent.

People will be happy. Some political parties will become poor.

That is why our opponents are saying the budget is anti-poor.

“The Congress and other leaders said this budget is anti-poor. It means that these parties which were being run on black money, they will become extremely poor,” Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters outside Parliament.

He said that the highlight of this budget is that one cannot contribute in cash more than Rs 2000 to a political party and honest people who want to donate to honest parties, political bonds have been allowed which he termed as a “big reform”.

He said that highest allocation in the history of the country has been given to MNREGA and honest taxpayers have been rewarded. He said that with more people coming under tax net, the tax rates are coming down.

“More money coming into the system means more money will be available for spending on welfare measures for the poor.

“The housing sector which has been asking for infrastructure status for years and I have been asking the finance minister for two-and-a-half years, by personally talking to him and writing to him, FM has agreed to give the infrastructure status,” Naidu said.

He said that infrastructure and agriculture has been given maximum priority by the Prime Minister and the budget gives priority to villages, farmers, poor, women, youth and middle class.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju said that the budget is focussed on rural infrastructure, housing and roads.

“It will transform rural India and urban as well in terms enhancing the capacity of building infrastructure. It is a great relief to the common masses and it will transform the economy of the nation. At the same time, the reform in taxation is great.

“From the point of view of electoral reforms, this budget has shown a clear way. Political parties have to transform itself. In democracy, political parties are the essence of the whole system. The transparency in which the political parties have to manage their funding system, has been given a great lift in this budget,” he said.