Jammu, Feb 1: Senior CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami on Wednesday said the Union budget for 2023-24 was a “huge disappointment” for Jammu and Kashmir as the proposals contained in it failed to address the basic and fundamental issues of the region, which is mostly dependent on agriculture and horticulture.
He said the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was just “jugglery of words” as it lacked the vision to tackle the growing unemployment, price rise and provide relief to the protesting daily wagers and other workers and employees under various government schemes.
“The budget is a huge disappointment for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It has failed to address the basic and fundamental issues of the region, which is mostly dependent on agriculture and horticulture,” Tarigami told PTI.
He said reducing the expenditure on agriculture at the national level will have its impact on Jammu and Kashmir as well.
“The year 2022 proved to be devastating for apple growers as they suffered huge losses due to the falling prices of their produce. There was no mention or attempt to provide any relief to them. Same is true about the farmers growing wheat, rice and saffron crops who also suffered losses,” he said.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader claimed that nothing was proposed in the budget to boost business, tourism and the MSME sector.
He also slammed the BJP-led Centre for not announcing budgetary allocations for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and providing relief to the workers engaged under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and other similar schemes.
“The budget is just a jugglery of words as there is nothing for the people of Jammu and Kashmir in it,” he said.
