Parliament Budget Session Highlights: The Parliament leaders of the INDIA parties will meet in the chamber of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge at 10.30 am
Parliament Budget Session Highlights: INDIA alliance MPs staged a walkout in Lok Sabha over the arrest of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren by the Enforcement Directorate earlier this week. The Parliament leaders of the INDIA parties met in the chamber of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge this morning to discuss their joint strategy. There weren’t too many surprises in yesterday’s Budget speech. Given that this was an interim Budget – with the Lok Sabha polls right around the corner – Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman steered clear of any big policy changes or announcements. As expected, she did spend some time highlighting the economic triumphs of the Modi government over the last decade. Interestingly, she also signalled the beginning of a slow tapering of government heavy-lifting of the economy.
The political reactions to the Budget were largely along expected lines. Political leaders from the ruling NDA alliance have welcomed it, while some Opposition leaders very quickly wrote it off as “disappointing”. “It was one of the shortest speeches on record in the Budget. Not very much came out of it,” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor told news agency ANI. Meanwhile, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the Budget “encouraging”.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that there would be no change in tax rates for direct and indirect taxes, including import duties. Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit for 2024-25 is estimated at 5.1 per cent of GDP against 5.8 per cent in the current financial year. With the Lok Sabha polls right around the corner, Sitharaman kicked off her Budget speech by highlighting the economic triumphs of the Modi government over the last decade. The interim Budget also expanded the scope of several social welfare schemes for the benefit of four groups that Sitharaman said were the “highest priority” of the government — the poor, women, youth and farmers.
